Art of winning

Here, the BJP handed over the reins of its party to a former NCP strongman who brought in the saffron fold many Ajit Pawar loyalists.

Similar is the story in Nashik where Raj Thackeray-led MNS was ruling for last five years.theyoungerthackerayhadnochance of continuing this run, largely due to his party’s inept and lacklustre handling of governance. Here, too, ahead of elections, the BJP gobbled up almost the entire city unit of the MNS — and pocketed Nashik.

The story in Ulhasnagar, another mega city bordering Mumbai, too, is the same.

Here, the BJP showed little inhibition joining hands with local muscleman Pappu Kalani. Interestingly, it was this notorious gangsterwhowasatthecentreofbjp’scampaign against criminalisation of politics in early ‘90s. The BJP’S late Gopinath Munde had then accused Maharashtra’s former chief minister Sharad Pawar of shielding Kalani. In the current election, the gangsterturned-politician was BJPS accomplice. Result: BJP along with Kalani clan will rule the city.

Of the eight municipal victories, BJP had a strong chance only in two: Nagpur and Akola.

Theformerishometotherssheadquarters and two BJP veterans Chief Minister Devendrafadnavisandunionministernitin Gadkari. The BJP has retained the municipal body.

Akola, too, is in the same Vidarbha region where the BJP has a strong presence. Apart from these two, BJP has won in Amravatithanksagaintoanothercongressncp veteran who was inducted into the party.

Thedefiningstoryofthislocal-bodyelection is in Mumbai where it was in power with Shiv Sena for over 25 years. This is the citythebjpalwayswantedtorulebutcouldn’tbecauseofthesena.here,divorcewasalways on the cards.

This election offered a perfect timing for the BJP to test its mettle in the megalopolis. Thegambleworkedtoanextentthatbjphas shown a nearly 300% growth. It had three distinct advantages over the Sena. One, the people of Mumbai were tired of the Sena’s childishpolitics;two,thecityhaswitnessed a huge influx of north Indians which are not sympathetic to Sena and the last is chief minister’s Devendra Fadnavis’s own image.

Allthreeweresettoworkinfavourofthe BJP which for the last two years has undertakenvariousmegainfrastructureprojectsin Mumbai. So there was something on the ground for the BJP to showcase vis-a-vis the Sena’s personality-driven, largely empty, politics.

Banking on Fadnavis’s image, BJP at the right time opened up the debate on corruption in the Rs 40,000-crore municipal corporation. By taking on Sena head on, the BJP has emerged as a serious option to the Sena. However, it wasn’t strong enough to overtake it. Largely because the Sena still has a fairly robust party mechanism on the ground and BJP is far from building it. So is the case in Thane, where the Sena maintained its hold.

The election throws another important story. That the largest portion of the state’s politicalspacenowiswiththebjp.ithasalso mademajorinroadsinzillaparishadswhere it had not so much of a presence. And that Congress’sdecimationcontinueswhilencp stays on road to become irrelevant.