Earlier, the AAP had contested a few big polls here, but returned with a big failure. Maharashtra is a multiplayer field where two forces on each side have been bonding into alliances or making it a four-way fight. The situation is going to alter again when the BJP ties up with the Shinde Sena, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s three parties come together or go in separate directions. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena hasn’t charted its course, while Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is mulling to join hands with the Thackeray Sena which has been trying to get smaller parties along. The AIMIM will also be there, so will the Samajwadi Party to stake claim to the Muslim votes. The AAP has been a success in bipolar states like Gujarat and Delhi. Where will it stand in Maharashtra’s crowded political field?

Also read: Gujarat election results: Flipping Kutch and Saurashtra helped BJP to record win

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Marathi pride 

Many see the Gujarat poll outcome impacting the Mumbai and Thane municipal polls. The impact should be either way. The BJP’s sizable Gujarati vote bank is expected to consolidate further while the parties that love to use Marathi Asmita (pride) as a poll plank should be pitting it against Gujarati Asmita. Regional politics will be played hard. Uddhav Thackeray’s reaction to the Gujarat victory indicated what was in store. The MNS is another party that wears Marathi card on its sleeves and the Shinde Sena is one more that brands itself as a genuine custodian of Marathi Manoos. 

The politics over the allegations of insults to revered personalities like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, social reformer Mahatma Phule, some senior educationists and state border dispute with Karnataka is being played around the Marathi Asmita. It appears that Marathi Manoos will be divided more between many parties this time than the past instances.

Shinde initiative 

When it comes to Mumbai’s makeover, it was former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh who took the first credit. Then came Devendra Fadnavis who revived the stalled projects, began many greenfield ones and pushed them hard. The city’s Metro network and Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg are among Fadnavis’s initiatives. The new CM Eknath Shinde has taken up the baton, branding Mumbai makeover’s latest phase as his initiative. A specific mention in this regard has been made in the state government advertisements that were put across national media. Shinde has been trying to create a thick image among the Mumbaikars who have always known him as a man from Thane. However, he did not forget to mention in the media interviews and the speech he made in front of PM Narendra Modi in Nagpur on Sunday that it was Fadnavis who trusted him most as the minister in-charge of the expressway and encouraged him to take up the challenges. Fadnavis responded in the same vein, heaping praises on the then minister under his command and now his boss. 

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore

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