Mumbai:

A blockbuster political battle brews in Mumbai – Bollywood’s beating heart – with Aaditya Thackeray, the popular son of Shiv Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray, set to fight charismatic ex Congress MP Milind Deora, who jumped from that party to Eknath Shinde’s breakaway Sena faction in January.

Sources Friday morning said the Shinde Sena had confirmed Mr Deora’s candidature, a day after Mr Thackeray’s party said he would defend his seat.

The two will also face-off against Sandeep Deshpande of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray, who is Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin.

Thackeray junior holds the Worli seat – a Shiv Sena stronghold – that will vote, with the state’s 287 other Assembly constituencies, on November 20.

Except Worli isn’t just a Sena stronghold.

Sena vs Sena In Worli

The posh neighbourhood is in the Mumbai (South) Lok Sabha constituency that is widely seen as the backyard of the Deora family; Murli Deora won this seat four times, including a hat-trick of wins from 1984 to 1991, and his son, Milind Deora, claimed two consecutive wins – in 2004 and 2009.

Yes, since then the Sena has held Mumbai (South).

Arvind Sawant claimed a hat-trick of wins in the April-June federal election. The third was with the Thackeray Sena – as that party, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP dominated the Lok Sabha poll in the state – suggesting Aaditya Thackeray has the edge, but nothing is ever certain in politics.

Back in March the Shinde Sena gave its new recruit, Milind Deora, the responsibility of leading its Lok Sabha election charge in the Mumbai (South) constituency.

There was speculation then Mr Deora would be nominated to contest the seat – which seemed the obvious thing to do – but that fizzled out after the party appointed him to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Deora would, therefore, only oversee the Shinde Sena’s Lok Sabha campaign. And he did a credible job; Arvind Sawant’s winning margin dropped from 1.28 lakh votes in 2019 to just about one lakh.

But the margin of Aaditya Thackeray’s win in the 2019 state election – he had a 65 per cent vote share advantage – underlines the magnitude of the task for the Shinde Sena and Milind Deora.

What will provide a boost is that in the Lok Sabha election Worli voters gave Mr Sawant a very narrow win – he finished less than 7,000 votes ahead of the Shinde Sena’s Yamini Jadhav.

A Third Challenger?

Raj Thackeray could be the dark horse in this election. His MNS opted not to field a candidate from Worli in 2019 to respect Aaditya Thackeray’s electoral debut.

READ | For Aaditya Thackeray, Worli Challenge Likely From Uncle’s Party

But all bets are off now, especially since the reduced margin in the Lok Sabha polls signals an opportunity to gain ground. “In 2017 (in municipal polls), we bagged around 30,000 to 33,000 votes from Worli. We have voters dedicated to MNS here…” Mr Deshpande told news agency PTI.

Aaditya Thackeray, though, is unfazed.

“The People Know…”

The junior Thackeray led a massive rally Thursday as he filed his papers, and told NDTV, “… the people have realised the BJP is a party of hollow promises (and) will stand against Eknath Shinde…”

READ | “People Know BJP, Shinde Looted State”: Aaditya Thackeray To NDTV

Asked about the battle for Worli, he said, “You can see the response of the people. That is their love… The common man and woman on the streets are giving me their blessings.”

What Is Worli Like?

Home to some of India’s wealthiest men and women, the Worli skyline is marked by high-rises and thriving business hubs. But it also contains dilapidated chawls awaiting redevelopment.

Many slum rehabilitation projects have been stalled, and some redeveloped buildings have not provided promised monthly rentals to residents.

The Maharashtra election – one of the two final state polls this year, the other being in Jharkhand – will take place in a single phase on November 20, with results for both states due three days later.

READ | Congress, Uddhav Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Party To Fight 85 Seats Each

The 2019 election was won by the BJP-Sena alliance but that fell apart, spectacularly, after the two failed to agree a power-share deal. Uddhav Thackeray then led the Sena into an alliance with the Congress and the NCP (unlikely partners both) and that angered some of his party leaders.

Two years later Eknath Shinde led a rebellion and overthrew the ruling alliance. He was made the Chief Minister and, in July last year, Ajit Pawar staged a similar revolt within the NCP.

The BJP is allied with the rebel Sena and NCP factions.

With input from agencies

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One of the key suspects in Narendra Dabholkar murder case, former Shiv Sena corporator from Jalna Shrikant Pangarkar.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, which outraged the nation, joined Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Jalna ahead of assembly polls.

Ms. Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Karnataka capital Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.

A probe by police in Karnataka with assistance from agencies in Maharashtra led to the arrest of several persons.

Pangarkar, a Jalna municipal councillor of the undivided Shiv Sena between 2001 and 2006, was arrested in August 2018 and was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on September 4 this year.

After he was denied a ticket by the Shiv Sena in 2011, Pangarkar joined the right-wing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.

He joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday in the presence of party leader and former State Minister Arjun Khotkar.

“Pangarkar is a former Shiv Sainik and has returned to the party. He has been nominated as the chief of the Jalna assembly poll campaign,” Mr. Khotkar told reporters.

Mr. Khotkar also said he wants to contest the assembly poll from Jalna, but added seat sharing discussions in the Mahayuti (ruling alliance comprising Shiv Sena, BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP) were still underway.

The seat is held by Congress’ Kailash Gorantyal.

Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23. The term of the current assembly ends on November 26.

Mumbai:

In a sign of differences between the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and the Congress just a month before the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the regional party has said it will not hold seat-sharing discussions with state Congress President Nana Patole.

On Thursday, sources in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, comprising the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had said that a consensus had been reached on 260 of the state’s 288 Assembly constituencies. 

Speaking on Friday, however, senior Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and MP Sanjay Raut said the allies had agreed on only 200 seats and took a dig at Nana Patole without naming him, saying leaders in the Maharashtra Congress leaders are “not capable of taking decisions”.

Mr Raut said he had spoken to Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik and the party’s Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala and would also talk to Rahul Gandhi later in the day.

“The pending decision should be expedited. Very little time is left. Maharashtra Congress leaders are not capable of making decisions. They have to send the list to Delhi frequently and then discussions happen. The decision (on seat-sharing) will have to be taken at the earliest,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

Sources told NDTV that the differences between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress arose because the Uddhav Thackeray-led party wanted to contest more seats in the Vidarbha region, which Mr Patole was not willing to concede. 

Riding high on its performance in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections, in which it emerged as the single-largest party with 13 of 48 seats, the Congress is hoping to do well in Vidarbha, where it has had a good track record in previous elections as well. The region is also a stronghold of Mr Patole. 

While it is unclear what impact the decision of the Shiv Sena (UBT) will have on the larger Maha Vikas Aghadi, sources said the differences may hurt the coalition in its fight with the ruling Mahayuti alliance. 

The opposition alliance was seen to be in the driver’s seat after its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, in which it managed to win 30 constituencies in Maharashtra, but the BJP-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction)-NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction coalition has been energised after the Haryana results in which the BJP managed to pull off its best-ever performance despite battling anti-incumbency after two straight terms.

Voting in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20 and counting will take place on November 23.

Mumbai:

With the Maharashtra Assembly elections just over a month away, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has firmed up seat sharing on 263 of the state’s 288 Assembly constituencies, sources have told NDTV.

A meeting of alliance partners Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena was held on Thursday and good progress was made in seat-sharing discussions, the sources said. The meeting was attended by Congress Maharashtra President Nana Patole, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leaders Jitendra Awhad, Jayant Patil and Anil Deshmukh, among others.

The remaining 25 seats which remain disputed include five of the 36 Assembly constituencies in Mumbai, including Kurla, Dharavi, Versova and Byculla. The sources said the list of finalised and disputed segments will be sent to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and the heads of the other two coalition partners, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who will take a final decision in “two to three days”. 

The Election Commission announced on Tuesday that the Maharashtra polls will be held in a single phase on November 20, setting the stage for one of the most interesting Assembly contests the state has ever seen. 

Shifting Equations

The last election in 2019 was a fairly straightforward battle between the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena coalition on the one hand and the Congress-NCP alliance on the other. Despite having the numbers to form the government after the results were declared, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance split over the chief minister’s post and Uddhav Thackeray took the top job in the state after forging a coalition with the NCP and the Congress, which were seen as unlikely partners. 

A rebellion by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde led to the government falling in 2022 and Mr Shinde went on to take oath as the chief minister with the BJP’s support. The ruling alliance got a third partner the following year when Ajit Pawar decided to split the NCP and took oath as the deputy chief minister alongside BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The contest now is between the Congress, the BJP and two Shiv Senas and NCPs, whose leaders are out to prove they are the real claimants of the original parties’ legacies despite the original symbols and names going to the rebel factions. 

Lok Sabha Results

The Lok Sabha elections jolted the ruling coalition, known as the Mahayuti, when it won just 17 of the state’s 48 constituencies while the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s tally was 30. The Assembly elections were, thus, seen as an uphill battle for the Mahayuti but appear to have been made easier by the results of the polls in Haryana, where the BJP formed a government – delivering its best-ever performance in the state – despite battling anti-incumbency after two straight terms in power.

While the Congress was criticised by its allies, including Mr Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, over the Haryana loss, Sharad Pawar said on Thursday that the elections in the northern state would not have a bearing on the Maharashtra results. 

“We are studying the Haryana results, but at the same time look at the results of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. I do not think that it (Haryana results) will have any bearing on the state’s elections. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, the world community gives more attention to it and its poll results are more important for the country,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The National Conference-Congress Alliance won 48 of Jammu and Kashmir’s 80 constituencies in the erstwhile state’s first Assembly elections since 2014. The Congress contributed only six of these, however, and decided to extend support to the government from outside after the Omar Abdullah-led party received the backing of four Independents and the lone AAP MLA. Sources had said the decision was taken after the Congress was offered only one ministerial berth.

Mumbai:

The Opposition in Maharashtra on Tuesday said the 35-day period during which the Assembly elections process will take place is shorter than usual while the Election Commission gave enough time to the government to announce a slew of schemes.

It also pointed out that elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh (403), will be held in a single phase on November 20, even though this year’s Lok Sabha elections were held in five phases in the state.

Counting of votes will take place on November 23, the Election Commission announced earlier on Tuesday.

Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly and Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said, “The Election Commission of India (ECI) generally gives a minimum of 40 days for the political parties to finalise their candidates, for submission of nominations, and the campaign. But this time it is 35 days, which is unusual and which gives us less time to campaign as well.

“It could be a part of some plan to give the Opposition little time,” he claimed, adding that the Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government has rampantly announced schemes in the run-up to the elections without any application of mind and it will hit the state coffers.

Asked about the fate of these schemes if the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance came to power, Mr Wadettiwar said, “We note that some schemes will strain the state’s finances, but we will not scrap all of them. We will evaluate and continue the schemes that genuinely aim to help the people. Additionally, our administration will prioritise improving the safety of women in public spaces.”

Jayant Patil, state president of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), said, “The ECI held Lok Sabha elections in five stages in Maharashtra, but it has now decided to hold elections for the assembly in one stage. It is good that the NDA government in Maharashtra will lose in one stroke.”

The announcement of the Assembly elections should have been made earlier, he said, but the state government was given enough time to announce welfare schemes and sanction development works.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “Compared to the Lok Sabha, the performance of the MVA which is part of the INDIA bloc will be better. There is no need to worry about the seat-sharing formula.” He also claimed that the questions raised by several Opposition parties over the possible misuse of EVMs were not properly addressed by the EC officials.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Congress MLA from Igatpuri, Hiraman Bhika Khoskar, has joined the Ajit Pawar led-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Mr Khoskar and his supporters officially joined the NCP at Ajit Pawar’s residence in Mumbai on Monday.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and State NCP President Sunil Tatkare welcomed Khoskar into the party.

“Hiraman Bhika Khoskar joined the NCP with dozens of his supporters including former Zila Parishad member Sampatnana Sakale in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Maharashtra NCP President Sunil Tatkare in Pune,” said NCP’s statement.

इगतपुरीचे आमदार आणि आदिवासी समाजाचे नेते श्री. हिरामण खोसकर यांनी आज राष्ट्रवादीचे विकासाभिमुख विचार स्वीकारत माझ्या आणि प्रदेशाध्यक्ष खा. सुनील तटकरे यांच्या उपस्थितीत आपल्या प्रमुख सहकाऱ्यांसह राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पक्षात प्रवेश केला. आमदार खोसकर यांचा पक्षप्रवेश म्हणजे… pic.twitter.com/iYO5e6oLcS

— Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) October 14, 2024

The party further highlighted that it is the “second biggest” member joining the NCP and mentioned that veteran actor Sayaji Shinde also joined the party in Mumbai.

The party also reiterated that Mr Khoskar’s joining will be strengthening the party in Nashik and surrounding areas ahead of the Assembly elections.

“Khoskar enjoys much support in Nashik region particularly in the tribal community,” the statement added.

Announcing the new member in a post on X, the party highlighted multiple other members who joined the party who have been zilla parishad members and also former officials in various districts.

Sandeep Gopal Gulve, Sampatanana Sakale, former Zilla Parishad member Jarnadan Mama Mali, Former Zilla Parishad member Uday Jadhav, Vinayak Malekar, Jairam Dhande, Prashant Kadu, Pandumama Shinde, Dnyaneshwar Kadu, Sarpanch Jagan Kadam, Feroze Shaikh, Dilip Chaudhary, Tukaram Sahane, Ramesh Jadhav, Dashrath Bhagde, Sudam Bhor, Arun Gaikar, Shivaji Sirsat also joined the NCP.

“With the entry of Khoskar, the strength of the NCP party has increased,” said the post.

Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held in 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has not yet announced the dates for the election.

The upcoming Maharashtra election will see a contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition — comprising the Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress and the Mahayuti Alliance — which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Hoping to repeat the BJP’s success in Haryana, the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition in Maharashtra, which is seen as facing an uphill battle in the Assembly polls expected to be held later this year, has reached out to two key groups – the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

On Thursday, the Maharashtra cabinet took several key decisions, including approving an ordinance giving constitutional status to the state Scheduled Caste Commission and giving its nod to a proposal urging the Centre to hike the income criterion for inclusion in the creamy layer among OBCs from Rs 8 lakh a year to Rs 15 lakh.

A statement from the office of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the cabinet approved a draft ordinance to accord constitutional status to the Maharashtra State Scheduled Caste Commission. The ordinance, the statement said, would be tabled in the next session of the state legislature and added that 27 posts had been approved for the panel.

A proposal to request the Union government to increase the income limit for inclusion in the ‘creamy layer’ category to Rs 15 lakh per year from the current Rs 8 lakh was also passed. 

A non-creamy layer certificate, stating that the family income of a person is below the prescribed limit, is needed to get reservation benefits in the OBC category.

Lok Sabha Learnings?

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in the state, which comprises the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, had stunned the ruling coalition, known as the Mahayuti, by winning 30 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP, whose tally was 23 in the last general elections, was reduced to just nine while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP managed to win only one seat.

One of the reasons attributed to the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s big victory was that it managed to get its caste combinations right and Thursday’s cabinet decisions are seen as a way of making a dent in that. The decisions are also being read as a means of blunting the Congress and the INDIA alliance’s attack on the NDA during the Lok Sabha elections that it wanted to end reservations and was seeking over 400 seats to do so. 

The BJP eventually managed to win 240 constituencies while the NDA was comfortably over the majority mark of 272 seats with a tally of 293. 

Ahead of the elections in Haryana, where the BJP was perceived to be on the back foot after ruling the state for two consecutive terms, the state government had hiked the creamy layer ceiling from Rs 6 lakh to 8 lakh. The decision is seen as having contributed to the party managing to defy exit poll predictions and beat anti-incumbency to win 48 seats, two more than the majority mark in the 90-member Assembly.

Indapur:

Weeks before the Maharashtra election, BJP leader and former minister Harshvardhan Patil has declared that he will soon switch to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP). Harshvardhan Patil announced his decision to quit the BJP to supporters today, a day after his meeting with Sharad Pawar.

“I have been travelling across the Indapur constituency and meeting people from various sections for the last two months. One thing is clear, the people have been insisting that I should contest the Assembly election,” Mr Patil told reporters.

“During the meeting with the NCP(SP) chief, he told me that since my supporters want me to contest from Indapur, I should take a call… I spoke to my supporters and have decided to join the NCP(SP),” he said. He is expected to contest from Indapur constituency in Pune, against NCP legislator Dattamama Bharne.

Mr Patil, the chairman of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories and a cooperative baron, has represented the Indapur constituency four times.

The leader’s supporters said he would join NCP(SP) on October 7 during a rally at Indapur.

Mr Patil’s daughter Ankitta Patil, a former Pune Zilla Parishad member, will also join the Sharad Pawar faction, according to sources.

Mr Patil left the Congress and joined the BJP in September 2019.

According to those close to him, he was uncertain about being chosen by the BJP to contest from the Indapur seat as it is represented by the ruling party’s alliance partner, the Ajit Pawar NCP.

He was unhappy over the BJP for not taking a firm stand on his candidature from the Indapur constituency, said a leader.

Ankitta Patil, who is an ex-member of Pune Zilla Parishad, has also changed her WhatsApp status to a “man blowing turah” (a traditional trumpet) which is the NCP-SP’s poll symbol.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi will make an announcement on several constituencies for the Maharashtra Assembly elections before Dussehra and a discussion on more than 150 seats was held in a meeting on Wednesday. 

Mr Patole said, “We will soon finish this and will make announcements on several seats before Dussehra. A discussion on more than 150 seats has been done in today’s (Wednesday’s) meeting. We will decide based on merits. Soon there will be clarity on the seat discussion.”

Maharashtra Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi asserted that the MVA alliance will fight strongly.

“MVA will fight strongly. The seats could be less and more. People are being divided in the name of religion. We are asking for 12 seats,” he said.

The MVA had also held a meeting on Tuesday. After attending the meeting, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Jitendra Awhad said that there is no enmity and a discussion was happening well.

“It was a long meeting and there is no enmity, discussion is happening well…Around 288 seats were discussed,” Awhad said.

Targeting Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his “Vote Jihad” remarks, Nana Patole said that the former should be ashamed.

“Devendra Fadnavis should be ashamed…He is the Home Minister of the state and holds a constitutional post…Devendra Fadnavis himself wants to do the same cheap politics that the BJP does by making such statements and fighting on the basis of religion during elections…Congress demands that Devendra Fadnavis should apologise to the people of the state,” Mr Patole said.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held a detailed discussion with party leaders and workers in Dadar, Mumbai.

Mr Shah also expressed certainty that a ‘Mahayuti’ (ruling coalition) government would be formed in Maharashtra.

Addressing party workers, Mr Shah remarked that the BJP does not seek power for the sake of ruling but to advance its ideology.

“The formation of a Mahayuti government in Maharashtra is inevitable. No one can stop Mahayuti from winning the elections in Maharashtra,” he added.

Earlier, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray hit out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging that since he became Chief Minister, many industrial projects from the state have gone to Gujarat.

He alleged that, in the past two years, Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries and lost them to neighbouring Gujarat. Vedanta-Foxconn had inked a pact in September 2022 for a Rs 1.54 lakh crore semiconductor project in Ahmedabad.

Mr Thackeray also accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of wanting to “finish” him and NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

The Maharashtra Assembly has 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has yet to announce the election dates.

The main contest will be between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the UBT Shiv Sena, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress, and the Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).