A surprising political realignment has reshaped the power dynamics in the Parli Municipal Council of Maharashtra's Beed district. Following post-election disagreements among the ruling Mahayuti coalition partners, a new ruling group has emerged, uniting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
A Fractured Verdict Leads to New Alliances
The 35-member council delivered a split mandate in the recent elections. The seat distribution is as follows: the NCP won 16 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 7, independents got 6, while the Shiv Sena and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won 2 seats each. The Congress and AIMIM managed to win one seat each.
Despite contesting the civic polls together as allies, the BJP, along with two independent councillors, later decided to form a separate bloc. This move created an opening for an alternative coalition. Explaining his party's stance, Shiv Sena's taluka president Vyankatesh Shinde stated that after the BJP chose to sit separately, the Sena supported the NCP, which was the single largest party. He clarified that the AIMIM councillor extended support independently, for which the Sena could not be held responsible.
Controversial Alliance Sparks Political Firestorm
The formation of this tripartite alliance, especially the inclusion of AIMIM, has ignited a fierce political debate. The controversy is amplified because AIMIM had levelled serious allegations against senior BJP leaders from the region, Minister Pankaja Munde and MLA Dhananjay Munde, during the election campaign.
The opposition was quick to seize on this development. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Leader of Opposition, Ambadas Danve, launched a sharp attack on Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde via social media platform X. He accused the Shinde-led Sena of exposing the "hollowness of its claims of ideological purity" by aligning with NCP and AIMIM. "Parli has revealed the true face of the new power structure in Maharashtra," Danve remarked, directly tagging Shinde in his post.
Formal Election of Group Leader
The new ruling coalition formally elected its leader in the presence of the Beed district collector. Vaijanath Solanke, the NCP taluka president, was chosen as the group leader. The ruling bloc now commands the support of 24 councillors, comprising 16 from NCP, 2 from Shiv Sena, 1 from AIMIM, and 4 independents. The AIMIM councillor, Sheikh Ayesha Mohsin, is now part of this ruling alliance.
Consequently, the BJP, with its nine members (seven of its own and two independents), has decided to sit in the opposition. This realignment in Parli is being viewed as a significant indicator of the fluid and opportunistic nature of political partnerships in Maharashtra's current landscape, raising questions about consistency and ideology.
