Will Shinde Retain His Hold On Home Turf?

In the broader Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) beyond Mumbai, which is the backbone of Maharashtra's economy and a vibrant urban centre,stakes are high for both the Mahayuti and the MVA but especially so for chief minister Eknath Shinde as his home turf of Thane is part of it. The region is witnessing an intense tussle for seats within the Mahayuti with the BJP, while acknowledging the CM's position, not wanting to concede seats to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Thane which it has fought earlier.The MMR, spread over Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts, has 65 assembly seats, of which 36 are in Mumbai. In 2019 the BJP won 16 seats in Mumbai and 10 in the rest of MMR. The undivided Shiv Sena on the other hand won 14 seats in Mumbai and seven in the rest of MMR.The four seats within Thane city, considered the dominion of chief minister Shinde, have become the centre of attention for the assembly elections as the two Shiv Senas will try their best to capture these. At present the UBT Sena doesn't have any representation in these four seats – Ovala Majiwada (Pratap Sarnaik-SS), Kopri-Panchpakhadi (Eknath Shinde-SS), Thane (Sanjay Kelkar-BJP) and Mumbra Kalwa (Jitendra Awhad-NCP SP), all of which are located within the Thane civic corporation limits. Thane Sena (UBT) functionary and ex-MP Rajan Vichare said the party was confident of a turnaround in the assembly results as the public has witnessed the "betrayal" by their rivals (Shinde Sena) and "rampant corruption in the Thane corporation controlled by the Mahayuti govt.""The Thane corporation in their (Shinde Sena) tenure has become a hotbed of corruption. Their own ally (MLA Sanjay Kelkar of BJP) has consistently raised questions and alleged corruption in the TMC. The corporation was once financially stable but has to rely on state grants every month. The voters have also not liked how they (Shinde) used Anand Dighe saheb to polish their own image in the recently-released Dighe biopic sequel. People will teach these ‘traitors' a lesson in the polls," he said.However, the Sena led by Shinde is not just basking in the 2024 Thane and Kalyan (from where CM Shinde's son Shrikant won) Lok Sabha seat victory but says it is banking on initiatives and decisions taken by its leader Shinde during his tenure as CM."The LS poll results have already shown the affiliation of residents towards Shinde saheb and our Sena. Anyone can see the works done during his tenure as CM which have touched every segment of society. We are confident that the goodwill thus generated will help us not just in Thane but across the state. The opposition has been trying to politicise certain issues, but the people are intelligent enough to see through their words," said Sena MP Naresh Mhaske.A BJP leader from MMR said every party will hold the seats it has won in the last assembly elections. "There is no conflict on this issue. Recently Dipesh Mhatre, who has been close to MP Shrikant Shinde, quit the Shinde Sena and joined Shiv Sena (UBT) as he wants to contest from Dombivli where PWD minister Ravindra Chavan is sitting BJP MLA. It was clear he would not get the seat," said the source.On BJP increasing its seat share in MMR, the source said in Palghar BJP is keen to contest on the Dahanu seat won by CPI (M)'s Vinod Nikole in the last elections. "The other seat it is eyeing is Mira-Bhayandar won by an independent Geeta Jain," said the source. Chavan has also been aggressive about expanding the party in Thane, in particular in the Kalyan-Dombivli-Ulhasnagar belt.Another source said that with BJP keen to fight more seats in Mumbai, Shinde could demand more seats in Thane and beyond, which are his strongholds. "Already BJP leader in Navi Mumbai Ganesh Naik is unhappy about Shinde trying to make inroads into Navi Mumbai," said the source.The BJP is also trying to expand in Palghar district. "Its MP candidate Dr Hemant Savra won a decisive victory despite the opposition to the Vadhavan port. The party has a voter base among Gujaratis, Hindi-speaking migrants from Uttar Pradesh and a section of the Marathi populace. It may reach an understanding with Hitendra Thakur's Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. The grants it has given to gaushalas are likely to help as there are a large number of these units all along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway," said the source.BJP MLC Niranjan Davkhare said in two years, the Mahayuti govt has carried out development works of five years. "The govt has put infrastructure on the fast track and it will yield results. The first goal is to ensure Mahayuti comes back to office so the allies will work closely together in the assembly elections. Naresh Mhaske's candidature from the Thane parliamentary constituency was declared at the last moment yet he won with a better margin than Shrikant Shinde. In Bhiwandi, Eknath Shinde ensured his party workers worked for BJP's Kapil Patil," he said.

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