Mumbai: Political manoeuvres in Ambernath town of Thane district are poised to be remembered as a textbook case of how power can slip away while allies are busy counting heads. In a swift and stealthy midnight operation, the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde outflanked the Bharatiya Janata Party, seizing control of the Ambernath civic body with surgical precision.
The Sena stitched together a majority in the 60-member Ambernath Municipal Council by aligning with the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Ajit Pawar and an independent councillor. The arithmetic was simple, the timing audacious: Sena’s 27 councillors, combined with the NCP’s four and one independent, took the tally to 32— comfortably over the halfway mark. The development has left the BJP, widely seen as the “big brother” in the Mahayuti alliance, watching from the sidelines despite having just inducted 12 councillors suspended by the Congress.
Sources tracking the fast-moving events said a formal letter announcing the new alliance has already been submitted to the district collector. What adds an extra layer of irony is that both the Shiv Sena and the NCP are partners of the BJP in the ruling Mahayuti at the state level. Yet, at the local level, alliance dharma proved flexible enough to be folded neatly and put away. Political observers describe the episode as a sharp reminder that municipal politics often has a logic—and a midnight clock—of its own.
The Sena’s move was driven by resentment over what it saw as the BJP’s attempts to sideline it, despite being the single largest party in the council. Negotiations with the NCP reportedly sealed the deal, with the vice-president’s post likely to go to the Pawar-led party. The BJP’s own strategy has been no less convoluted. It had earlier teamed up with the Congress under the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi banner, only to promptly absorb the same Congress councillors after their suspension—an exercise that ultimately failed to deliver power.
Shiv Sena MLA Balaji Kinikar did not hide his anger over the BJP’s conduct, making his displeasure public during a media interaction. The current numbers in the Ambernath Municipal Council stand thus: Shiv Sena 27, BJP 14, Congress 12, NCP 4 and Independents 2. The sums may be municipal, but the message is unmistakably political.
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