Amit Shah’s Mumbai Visit Signals BJP’s BMC Poll Push Amid Rising Tensions With Shinde Sena

As the festive season ended and politicians got back to work, Union Minister Amit Shah's Mumbai visit was watched closely by leaders of all political parties as well as observers in Maharashtra, as it perhaps marked the symbolic beginning of the BJP's campaign for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, which will mostly happen in January 2026.

Shah held many meetings and also laid the foundation stone for the BJP's new office in South Mumbai. The indication coming from the top leadership in Maharashtra during all these high-profile events was that the saffron party, at least as of now, wants to continue with the Mahayuti alliance and take their partners along during the big civic poll season coming in the next few months.

BJP insiders indicated that the party has decided to go for a seat-sharing deal with Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP in the BMC polls, while in Thane and Pune there might be a different decision.

"We must have a triple-engine sarkar in the municipal corporations and defeat the opposition unitedly," said Amit Shah, speaking before the BJP activists in South Mumbai. A clear indication that the BJP thinks winning the BMC is a crucial target for the party.

Party leaders may be saying this in their speeches while speaking with their cadre, but on the field, there are different and mixed signals coming. If there is one thing buzzing in the political sphere in Maharashtra right now, it is the talk about the cold war between the ruling alliance partners.

Maharashtra's largest political organisation, the BJP, faces some problems with their alliance partner Shiv Sena, as Sena Chief Eknath Shinde feels he is constantly being sidelined by his senior partner in the alliance.

Some stark allegations levelled by Eknath Shinde's party member, Ravindra Dhangekar, against BJP leader and Union minister Murlidhar Mohol in Pune became the biggest talking point in the state last full week and created a lot of buzz about how the allegations against Mohol were mainly coming from a leader belonging to the BJP's alliance partner and not the opposition parties! It is obvious that as the Mahayuti government, aggressively controlled by CM Devendra Fadnavis, put on hold many decisions taken by Eknath Shinde when he was the CM, Shinde's Shiv Sena is now hitting back by targeting BJP's leaders or ministers.

It is understood that no Shiv Sena leader would make allegations against a BJP leader without Shinde's consent. Ravindra Dhangekar's allegations did not go unanswered by the BJP. This week the BJP spokespersons came out with some counter-allegations against Dhangekar. It was amusing to watch how two constituents of Maharashtra's ruling alliance were openly 'at war' against each other in the public space!

Some sources inside Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena said that Shinde is now insisting that the BJP should leave maximum seats for his party in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) if it wants cooperation from the Sena in the BMC. The buzz is that the BJP has internally decided that in Pune and Thane, they would want to fight on all seats and not have any seat sharing with either the Shiv Sena or Ajit Pawar's NCP.

There is pressure from the booth-level activists of the BJP, which made even CM Devendra Fadnavis say publicly a few days ago that in Pune, the party will fight separately and, perhaps, have "friendly fights" with alliance partners.

How the BJP manages alliance partners and how it keeps them satisfied in the upcoming civic poll season will be interesting to watch. The formula of "friendly fights" may or may not work, depending on the constituencies and candidates, but the contest will become complicated, as the winning margin in civic polls is usually very low—it might be just in the hundreds!

All this brings in an element of huge uncertainty in the upcoming civic polls, especially in Mumbai, Thane and Pune. The BJP may be using new strategies this season and may go for a different kind of seat sharing or friendly fight formula with alliance partners in different cities of Maharashtra.

Rohit Chandavarkar is a senior journalist who has worked for 31 years with various leading newspaper brands and television channels in Mumbai and Pune.

Published on: Friday, October 31, 2025, 12:25 AM IST