Dinesh Kamath's news 'Will BJP clinch maximum seats in forthcoming NMMC elections?' that was published in Newsband

Will BJP clinch maximum seats in forthcoming NMMC elections?

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Bharatya Janata Party’s victory over Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in the assembly seems to have taken the NCP corporators by total surprise. Over and above that, the defeat of their local leader Ganesh Naik at the hands of BJP candidate Manda Mhatre added to their shock. Earlier, the defeat faced by Sanjeev Naik in the Lok Sabha election was not taken seriously by them since they thought that it was just a fluke. But now they are no more under any kind of illusion and have accepted the fact that NCP no more enjoys the support of a majority of the public not only in Navi Mumbai but also all over the country. Only saving grace for the local NCP was the victory of Sandeep Naik in the assembly elections.

Manda Mhatre was the only person who made a wise move of defecting from NCP to BJP. She did it just on time. This move was a clear reflection of her powerful foresight. Many NCP corporators are now contemplating quitting the Sharad Pawar-led party and defecting to some other party, BJP being the most preferred party. Some of them are waiting to see as to what move their local leader Ganesh Naik will be making. At present there are only speculations about the move that Ganesh Naik would be making. It is clear that nobody has a concrete idea about what is going on in Naik’s mind.     

There are unconfirmed news about Naik family having already started negotiations with the BJP leaders but there is no evidence to prove that these information are true. The city still has some residents who have very high opinion about Ganesh Naik and his family. According to them, the kind of contribution that this family has done for the city cannot be matched with the contributions of any other individual or family. They say that the only mistake Naiks did was not to defect to BJP on time the way Manda Mhatre did. “It was the party and not the family that was the cause of Ganesh Naik’s defeat,” one of them said.

If Ganesh Naik sits down to negotiate with BJP leaders, BJP might consider seriously about letting Naik join them just to get a stronghold in both Navi Mumbai and Thane where they face a tough rival in the form of Shiv Sena whom BJP would definitely like to humble in the days to come. Naik is one man who shows sign of being capable of helping BJP dominate over Shiv Sena both in Thane and Navi Mumbai. So BJP leaders might give a serious thought to include Naiks in their party in case the family approaches them.  

The 89-member body in Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation might increase to 110 once the new wards come into existence. BJP is showing signs of conquering NMMC in the coming polls, their strong point being the presence of MLA Manda Mhatre on their side. Addition of Naiks in BJP can give still more boost to their chances of winning the NMMC elections in a very big way. But the question is ‘What is currently going on in the minds of Naiks?’