Friend/Foes: Alliances Blur Ahead of Municipal Polls in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Political equations in Maharashtra are in flux ahead of the January 15 elections to 29 municipal corporations, as the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition MVA have abandoned any attempt at a uniform seat-sharing formula, triggering fragmentation and multi-cornered contests.

As the filing of nominations ended on Tuesday, parties stitched together city-specific alliances, pushing leaders to criticise a party in one city while sharing platforms with it in another on the same day.

Till Monday, the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena appeared set to contest most seats together. By Tuesday, however, cracks surfaced across the Mahayuti. The Congress, too, forged different local arrangements in several cities, blurring the MVA's projected image of unity at the state level.

Rival NCP factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar joined hands for the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal polls despite remaining adversaries in state politics. In contrast, Ajit Pawar's NCP chose to contest alone in Nagpur while aligning with the BJP in Akola.

The Mahayuti failed to finalise seat-sharing in 24 of the 29 municipal corporations, pushing its constituents -- the BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP -- into direct contests against one another. These cities include Jalna, Parbhani, Latur, Amravati, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Solapur, Akola, Malegaon, Nanded, Nagpur, Sangli, Nashik, Dhule, Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar.

The BJP and Ajit Pawar's NCP limited their alliance to Akola, Ahilyanagar and Panvel, while the BJP and Shiv Sena came together only in Chandrapur, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Bhiwandi.

Mahayuti partners also locked horns in Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur, Jalgaon and Panvel.

The MVA saw a similar lack of unity in 17 municipal corporations, including Nagpur, Malegaon, Parbhani, Latur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded, Sangli, Kolhapur, Jalgaon, Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar. The alliance of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) held together only in five places -- Panvel, Jalna, Solapur (including the MNS), Nashik (with MNS) and Dhule.

The Congress tied up with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, only in Mumbai, while efforts to replicate the alliance in Pune collapsed due to resistance from local leaders. The Shiv Sena (UBT), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) joined hands in Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar and Kalyan-Dombivli.

Several major cities witnessed last-minute negotiations, but parties eventually reversed decisions and opted to fight independently.

Mumbai, with a civic budget of over Rs 74,000 crore, has emerged as a key battleground. The Congress aligned with the VBA and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP), while the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) forged an alliance with the MNS and NCP (SP). The BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena decided to contest together in the metropolis.

While the BJP has got 137 of the 227 electoral wards as part of the seat-sharing arrangement, Shiv Sena will contest in 90 seats. RPI candidates will contest from seats within the BJP quota.

The Congress, VBA and RSP will contest 139, 62 and 10, respectively. While Sena (UBT) has fielded candidates in 164 seats, its Mumbai partners MNS and NCP (SP) have got 53 and 10 seats, respectively. Ajit Pawar's NCP will contest independently on 60-70 seats.

In a show of "family unity" in Pune, the Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar factions of the NCP will take on an alliance comprising the Congress, Sena (UBT) and the MNS. The BJP partnered with the Republican Party of India (RPI), while Shinde's Shiv Sena chose to go solo.

In Thane, the BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena are contesting together, while the NCP is fighting alone. From the Opposition side, the Sena (UBT), MNS and Sharad Pawar's NCP have joined hands, while the Congress is contesting independently.

In Nagpur, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's home turf, the BJP and Shinde Sena have allied, whereas the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ajit Pawar's NCP are contesting separately. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, both NCP factions have united, while the BJP has allied with the RPI, and the Shinde Sena, Congress and VBA are fighting on their own.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Latur have seen a complete collapse of major alliances, with the BJP, Shinde Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) all choosing to contest independently.

Though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will canvass together in Mumbai and Thane, they will campaign against each other's candidates in several other corporations.

The emerging picture shows that local political equations have overtaken state-level pacts. With the Mahayuti split in 24 cities and the MVA fractured in 17, the elections are expected to witness intensely localised and multi-cornered contests.

Political analysts say this "unprecedented swapping of friends and foes" underscores the high stakes of local body elections, where regional dominance outweighs ideological consistency. With no common opponent across the 29 corporations, the elections promise to be the most unpredictable in Maharashtra's political history, they said.

The upcoming civic polls will be held on January 15, and votes will be counted the next day.