Ganesh naik hints at contesting Thane municipal elections solo against alliance decision

THANE: Cabinet minister and senior BJP leader Ganesh Naik on Thursday hinted that he may contest the upcoming Thane municipal elections alone, going against the decision of the state’s Mahayuti leadership to fight the polls as an alliance against the MVA–MNS combine.

Naik, who was in Thane to attend a function, said he did not want grassroots BJP workers to get a raw deal.“Our state leadership wants the polls to be fought as an alliance… The situation today is conducive (to fight solo) as the country is making progress under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and CM Devendra Fadnavis… We may be allies, but as the senior leader and in-charge of Thane, I know the sentiments of our grassroots workers (to fight solo) and don’t want to do injustice to them.

I will convey this to our top brass,” he told the media.The local BJP unit has long aspired to reclaim Thane city and other local bodies, which were once its strongholds but were later handed over to the Shiv Sena during their alliance decades ago. The Sena, under the leadership of the late Anand Dighe and later deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, steadily consolidated its dominance in the region, pushing the BJP to the margins.

Observers note that contesting the Thane polls as an alliance would reduce the number of seats available to BJP aspirants, as the Shinde-led Sena held a clear majority in the 2017 elections. With nearly 90 former elected representatives — including those inducted from other parties over the past two years — the Sena is now in a strong position to demand a larger share of seats in any alliance arrangement.