The change in power equation at the centre is set to affect the upcoming Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) elections as the number crunching game has already begun in several political circles.
With Eknath Shinde’s group sharing power equation with the BJP at the State, questions are now raised if he would lose complete dominance over TMC as he would be forced to share seats with the BJP. Or, would this power play at the State level wipe out the BJP from the city as the old BJP loyals would be side tracked with the new faces as has been seen in the party.
Experts claimed that it’s still early to predict the political scenario as a lot also depends on questions like ‘Will Shinde join BJP?’, ‘Will he form his own party?’ or ‘Will it continue to be a Shinde-led Sena?’.
A major political crisis that unfolded in Maharashtra over the last nine days ended on Thursday with Shinde being sworn in as the CM while Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy CM. This Shinde-BJP government will surely have an impact on Thane city, which has always been a stronghold of the Sena.
Sandeep Pradhan, a senior editor from Thane, said, “In the previous civic elections, Shiv Sena, under the leadership of Shinde, had complete dominance in Thane city by winning more than half the seats. They had formed a civic body without any handholding from other parties. If there is a power sharing at the State, the same will also be seen in the Thane civic elections. Shinde will have to allot seats to BJP while some plum posts in the house will also be divided. Sena can lose its one-party hold on the Thane civic body.”
For over three decades, Sena has reigned TMC by having a Sena mayor in the house. When Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was in power in the State, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had proposed to contest the civic polls together. However, Sena refused to side with the NCP. In 2017, Sena had won 67 seats followed by NCP, 34 seats, and BJP, 24 seats. There might be two groups of Shiv Sainiks at the State level, Shiv Sena and Shinde’s Shiv Sena. However, in Thane, the Sainiks have vowed their loyalty to Shinde.
There is also a faction that believes that the State equation might affect the BJP more than the Sena.
Another senior journalist, Milind Ballal, expressed, “There is a risk of wiping out the BJP from Thane as Shinde has the potential to emerge as a supreme leader in the city. A lot depends on the decision Shinde takes in the coming days. There needs to be a formal alliance for power sharing in Thane. With BJP, there has always been a trend to give seats to new faces. In the event of Shinde’s MLAs joining BJP and if this pattern is replicated in Thane, the old party loyals will be affected by this. There will be a lot of defection and rebellion, if the BJP doesn’t put in efforts to make a hold in Thane.”
