India, Dec. 19 -- The BJP's local unit in Navi Mumbai has signalled a strong resistance to a formal electoral alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena for the upcoming Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections, exposing visible fault lines within the ruling Mahayuti even as state leaders project unity ahead of the civic polls.

Former MP Sanjeev Naik, the BJP's Navi Mumbai election in-charge, articulated this mood among the party's grass-roots workers. "The BJP's two MLAs have comfortably won the assembly elections here in the last decade," he said, adding that the local unit believed that the BJP had the strength to lead the civic body on its own. "After years of groundwork, if there is an alliance with the Shiv Sena, it wo...