India, Jan. 15 -- Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister

From strategising and working out alliances to campaigning, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has led the BJP's quest to win all 29 municipal corporations. But the holy grail is the BMC. Fadnavis has gone all out to wrest Mumbai civic body, bastion of the undivided Shiv Sena for 25 years.

In 2017, the BJP came close to seizing power in the BMC from its then ally, the Shiv Sena, but Fadnavis chose to keep his government stable instead of competing with its ally to win power in the civic body.

However, following the split in the Sena in 2022 and his strained relationship with Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis has a clear shot at actually winning Mumbai's civic body. A win would...