India, Nov. 7 -- The BJP has appointed forest minister Ganesh Naik as the in-charge of the election for seven organisational districts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) including Thane, the home turf of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena. The appointment of Shinde's bete noir Naik is perceived as a fresh reason for more friction between the two allies, who have been at loggerheads for the last three years.

The party has also appointed Ashish Shelar, cultural minister and former Mumbai BJP chief, as the election in-charge for the BMC polls expected to be held in January next year. This is being seen as the disempowerment of Mumbai city chief Ameet Satam, who took over from Shelar in August this year.

However, Shelar, w...