India, May 22 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, allies in the Mahayuti government, are at daggers drawn in Navi Mumbai, with even top leaders taking potshots at each other in public just months before local body elections.

Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who's from Thane, and BJP minister Ganesh Naik, an MLA from Airoli, are going all out to strengthen their influence in the satellite city. Leaders from both parties are talking of winning the civic elections on their own, indicating that a pre-poll alliance seems unlikely.

It all started in February, when Naik held a "Janta Darbar" (people's court) in Thane, which is Shinde's bastion. Without naming Shinde, Naik said that no one can dominate forever, adding that th...