Mumbai, Oct 30 Recurring friction among the allies, particularly between the BJP and Shiv Sena, seems to have become a new normal for Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti combine which saw a war of words following the setback in the recent Legislative Council elections.
BJP leaders including senior minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule publicly pointed fingers at the allies after the party lost Pune and Nagpur graduates’ constituencies, while a leader of the Shiv Sena said that Eknath Shinde should replace Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister.
State BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban alleged on Friday, a day after the results, that the Shiv Sena led by deputy Chief Minister Shinde did not fulfil its alliance obligations, and its last-minute support to independent candidate Sachin Sanap in Pune teachers’ seat dented the Mahayuti’s unity.
Ban also accused Sena MLA Abdul Sattar of campaigning against the ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, contributing to the sitting NCP MLC’s defeat by the rival NCP (SP).
Sattar, for his part, said the Bharatiya Janata Party should decide if it wanted to continue the alliance with the Shiv Sena. Elsewhere, Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar said the results reflected the people’s view of the government, and it was high time Shinde became the chief minister.
Polling was held for Pune graduates’, Nagpur graduates’, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) graduates’, Pune teachers’ and Amravati teachers’ constituencies last week.
The BJP won only the Pune teachers’ seat, while the Shiv Sena bagged the Amravati teachers’ constituency. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) won the Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates’ seats, while the Congress bagged the Nagpur graduates’ seat.
The loss in Nagpur was all the more bitter for the BJP as it is the home city of Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, and houses the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its parent organisation.
This is not the first time that cracks have emerged in the Mahayuti. The chill in the relations has been evident since Fadnavis replaced Eknath Shinde as chief minister after the alliance’s landslide victory in the 2024 Assembly polls.
Several Shiv Sena leaders and ministers have openly batted for Shinde to be made the chief minister.
The ruling allies were involved in at least three public spats in 2026 alone.
In March, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai and NCP’s Makarand Patil alleged that police manhandled them during the polls to elect the Satara Zilla Parishad president. BJP’s Priya Shinde was elected the president, trumping the Sena-NCP’s joint candidate despite the latter having the majority.
The issue became a sore point between the Shiv Sena and the BJP.
Speaking in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde termed the police action against some elected members of the Satara Zilla Parishad as a “murder of democracy”, accusing authorities of his own government of misusing power to influence the polls.
Notably, the Home Department is headed by Chief Minister Fadnavis.
Last week, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange released an audio clip which contained a purported conversation between BJP functionaries about Rs 500 crore being allegedly given to Shinde to silence Jarange. The conversation apparently dated back to days leading to the 2024 state elections.
While Shinde refuted the allegations, it added to the strain in the ties. Sena leader Ramdas Kadam alleged that a section of the BJP was colluding with Jarange to finish Shinde off politically.
During the local body elections held in late 2025 and early this year, the Mahayuti parties contested separately in many places and even tried to corner each other in the home turfs of their top leaders, especially in Thane and Pune — the strongholds of the Shiv Sena and the NCP, respectively.
(PTI News)
