NAVI MUMBAI, Jan. 10 -- What had so far played out through indirect jabs spilled into open confrontation on Friday, as deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and BJP strongman Ganesh Naik traded scathing personal attacks and allegations of massive financial irregularities ahead of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections. Shinde and Naik have been involved in a decades-old power struggle for regional dominance in the Thane and Navi Mumbai areas. The hostilities escalated on Friday after the Shiv Sena chief, spearheading massive roadshows across the city, signalled an end to the decades-long Naik hegemony. "Change is needed here," Shinde declared. "We keep the promises we make... a new government and a new change will definitely happen. A saffron storm will see the Shiv Sena flag fly high over the NMMC." Naik hit back, mocking Shinde's coalition of defectors. "He has gathered all the old, seasoned players together. It is like a consolidated bloc, and that is why it looks swollen," he said. Naik also dismissed the notion of Shinde's "impregnable" strongholds in Thane, Kalyan, and Bhiwandi as a media myth. "If the BJP permits, I can overturn Shinde's cart and make the horses vanish," he said. The BJP minister also cautioned Shinde against underestimating him. "Eknath Shinde says he should not be taken lightly. But do not take Ganesh Naik lightly," he said. Positioning himself as a regional power player, Naik added that if the BJP central leadership willed it, "even the Kalyan and Thane MPs will be BJP's," a remark seen as a direct challenge to Shinde's family and home turf. Beyond the rhetoric, Naik levelled explosive corruption charges regarding the NMMC's finances during the administrative period overseen by Shinde's urban development department. "The civic body had around Rs.3,000 crore in fixed deposits. During the administrative period, only about Rs.800 crore remained. Around Rs.2,200 crore was siphoned off," he alleged. Naik further attacked a "builder-CIDCO nexus," claiming plots bought at Rs.30,000 per square metre are being resold for Rs.1 lakh, with "black money" flooding the civic polls. The Shinde camp's retaliation was swift and stinging. Thane MP Naresh Mhaske questioned Naik's mental state, suggesting the veteran leader had "lost his composure" due to Shinde's rising popularity. "Ganesh Naik's mental balance appears disturbed. He has realised that the people of Navi Mumbai are rejecting him," Mhaske said. Mhaske accused Naik of running the city as a private fiefdom. "Navi Mumbai is being run as if it belongs to someone's father. But this city belongs to the people," he said. In a move to isolate Naik from his own party, Mhaske claimed, "In Navi Mumbai, BJP does not exist anymore. What exists is the 'Naik Janata Party.'" He asserted that the original BJP cadre and Shiv Sena workers are now united in their quest to end the Naik era....