BJP gets a jolt in Bhiwandi as rebel becomes Mayor with Congress support

In a dramatic political churn in the powerloom and warehousing town of Maharashtra's Bhiwandi, the BJP suffered a major jolt after its rebel Narayan Chaudhary emerged as Mayor with the support of the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

In the 23-ward, 90-seat Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC), the fractured mandate led to intense permutations and combinations, fuelling allegations of horse-trading and clashes.

In the elections held on Friday, Chaudhary was elected Mayor, while Congress candidate Tariq Momin emerged as Deputy Mayor.

In the municipal polls, the Congress won 30 seats, the BJP 22, Shiv Sena 12, NCP (SP) 12, Samajwadi Party 6, Konark Vikas Aghadi 4, Bhiwandi Vikas Aghadi 3, and one Independent.

Chaudhary secured 48 votes, two more than the magic figure of 46, to win the post. BJP’s Sneha Patil managed 16 votes, while Konark Vikas Aghadi’s Vilas Patil polled 25.

The Congress floated the Bhiwandi Secular Front to contest the mayoral polls.

“Chaudhary has gone against the party line. He will face action,” state BJP president Ravindra Chavan said.

Bhiwandi NCP (SP) Lok Sabha MP Suresh Mhatre, also known as Balya Mama, said efforts to form a Congress-NCP (SP) secular front had been underway for the past few days.

“We have established the Secular Front in Bhiwandi,” said SP MLA Raees Shaikh.

Before the mayoral polls, state Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal said: “The Congress has decided not to align with the BJP or the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and has not compromised on its ideological stand. Some BJP corporators have now left the party and its ideology and joined the secular front, which enabled us to elect the mayor and deputy mayor.”

Chaudhary, who quit the BJP along with a few colleagues and formed an independent group, extended support to the Congress-led front.

The political realignment followed an eleventh-hour decision by the BJP to drop Chaudhary as its mayoral nominee and instead field Sneha Patil.

Notably, before joining the BJP, Chaudhary was with the Congress.