The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance will contest the upcoming local body elections in the state together except for friendly fights where tie-ups do not materialise, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.
Elections to several municipal corporations and other local bodies, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, have been pending for the last three years.
The state BJP president, working president, and the election committee of the party are authorised to take decisions related to the local bodies elections, Fadnavis told reporters in Akola after launching irrigation and power generation projects.
"We have decided to contest the polls as an alliance. There will be friendly fights wherever a tie-up does not work out," he added.
The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are the two other members of the alliance.
When asked about Prahar Janshakti Party leader Bachhu Kadu's hunger strike, Fadnavis said district guardian minister Chandrashekar Bawankule will speak to him.
Kadu is on hunger strike for four days over demands related to farmers' issues.
Responding to a question on Prime Minister Narendra Modi enquiring about Sharad Pawar's health when he met MP and Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule during a meeting with all-party delegations, Fadnavis said, "Humanity, sensitivity exist in politics. We are ideological adversaries, not enemies."
It is a marker of a strong democracy, the chief minister said.
Sule was part of one of the delegations which visited foreign countries to put forth India's stand on Pakistan-backed terrorism after Operation Sindoor.
While politics keeps evolving, the state government is stable and the three Mahayuti allies will stay together, he added.
Addressing a rally organised by the BJP in the city later, Fadnavis urged the people to support the ruling alliance in the local body elections just as they did during last year's assembly elections.
Fadnavis said 10 lakh hectares of land will be irrigated by the Wainganga River Connect Project which will also cover Buldhana district.
He said the state government has signed an agreement with Meta to enable people to file applications and obtain certificates through WhatsApp.
Fadnavis laid the foundation stone and dedicated to people development works of Rs 2,588 crore.
In Mumbai, Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut said the party has begun preparations for the civic body polls under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Discussions are going on within the party whether to contest the civic body polls as part of an alliance or independently.
"Shiv Sena party chief (Thackeray) has authorised local leaders and asked them to review where polls can be fought in an alliance. At places where it is not possible, we can contest independently or not. A decision will be taken by the party chief. A decision on (whether to contest the) Mumbai (polls as an alliance or independently) will also be taken," Raut said.
The stage is set for the much-awaited elections to civic bodies, with the state government issuing a notification to finalise ward boundaries.
The move follows a Supreme Court directive last month asking the SEC to proceed with the elections while hearing petitions related to the OBC quota and ward delimitation. Civic body polls in the state have been pending for two years.
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