Mahayuti leaders call for peace after Phase-1 polling, political tensions ease

by Webdesk
06 Dec 2025

MUMBAI: The first phase of the local body elections has concluded, and with two more phases to be conducted in the next six weeks, the ruling Mahayuti alliance – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – has finally decided to set aside internal disputes and adopt a strategy of cooperation. The three alliance partners are likely to conduct a joint meeting in the next couple of days to chart out their roadmap for the civic body elections.

This development comes soon after a crucial closed-door discussion between BJP’s joint national general secretary Shiv Prakash and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday. In this meeting, the two leaders reportedly reviewed seat-sharing possibilities for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, backed by BJP’s internal survey reports assessing the probable outcome of the first phase.

According to a senior leader from the Shiv Sena, the BJP has proposed offering Sena around 55 to 60 seats, though Sena has demanded at least 80 seats. BJP, on its part, is aiming to contest nearly 155 seats. During talks, both parties presented a list of wards where their victory prospects appear strong, backed by performance data from the 2017 civic polls.

On the other side, sources indicate that BJP has proposed allocating around 10 seats to the other alliance constituents – the NCP and the Athawale-led faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI).

The BJP and Shiv Sena were visibly at odds during the run-up to the first phase of the elections for 264 local bodies, which ended earlier this week. Tensions between the two were evident in several locations including Sindhudurg, Ambernath and Thane. In some regions, clashes turned physical. Notably, Solapur saw a direct confrontation between BJP and NCP leaders after BJP absorbed the entire local leadership unit of NCP just before municipal council polls. Similarly, clashes were reported in Mahad, Raigad, when Sena and NCP party workers had a heated argument near a polling booth, triggering a war of words between senior leaders.

Now, with two more phases ahead, Mahayuti leadership has decided to adopt a softer stance. “We will avoid poaching leaders from each other’s parties hereafter. Differences do exist, but there is no bitterness. We are committed to the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray, and therefore top leaders of all three parties—who share cordial personal relations—will soon finalise the further plan of action,” said Chandrashekhar Bawankule, revenue minister and BJP’s state-level election in-charge, at a press conference on Friday.

After weeks of heated rivalry, Sindhudurg also appears headed toward reconciliation between the BJP and Sena. Sena MLA Nilesh Rane, who locked horns with his brother and BJP leader Nitesh Rane during the municipal elections, extended an olive branch on Friday. “We are uniting in the interest of Hindutva. The future elections need to be fought together for better results. I will soon meet Chief Minister Fadnavis and BJP chief Ravindra Chavan. Now that elections are over, the differences between us should end here. I hold no personal grudge against Chavan – he campaigned for his party and I campaigned for mine,” he said.

Chavan, who was sharply criticised by Nilesh during the campaign, echoed the sentiment, remarking that “now that the polls are done, all infighting should be forgotten”.

Meanwhile, after the important meeting between Prakash and Shinde at Shinde’s residence, a senior BJP leader revealed that the two parties are expected to form an alliance only for the BMC elections out of the 29 municipal corporations going to polls. The decision, he explained, is rooted in the fact that Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray have joined hands for the BMC polls, while Congress continues to be a part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

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02 Jan 2026

BMC Elections

Mahayuti leaders call for peace after Phase-1 polling, political tensions ease

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