MUMBAI, Nov. 24 -- A calculated remark made by Union home minister Amit Shah three weeks ago set the tone for local body elections in Maharashtra, beginning December 2. "The BJP no longer walks on crutches," Shah had declared. "It functions on its own strength." Far from routine political bluster meant to rattle a weakened opposition, the comment appeared aimed like a rifle shot at the BJP's own partners in the ruling Mahayuti alliance - the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Since then, the Mahayuti coalition partners - and their opposition rivals - are seeing a free-for-all at the local level, as parties forge alliances purely for convenience. While in many contests, the BJP is pitted against both its allies, curiously, in Malvan, it is up against an all-party, "anti-BJP front" led by its ally, the Sena. For the BJP, though, everything is going exactly according to plan. But for Shiv Sena chief and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, the BJP stealing Anmol Mhatre in Kalyan-Dombivali, the constituency of Shinde's son and Sena MLA Shrikant, came as jolt. With 17 other Sena local leaders and former corporators switching to the BJP in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Shinde flew to Delhi on Tuesday, to register his protest with Amit Shah. While it was "stealing" from one alliance partner in MMR, the BJP was poaching local leaders from its other ally, the NCP, in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Amaravati and Solapur, in recent weeks. In Solapur, after former MLA and NCP leader Rajan Patil joined the BJP last month, the BJP won the Angar Nagar Panchayat contest, unopposed, on Wednesday. The nomination of NCP's Ujjwala Thite was declared invalid, paving the way for Rajan Patil's daughter-in-law Prajakta Patil to get elected as nagar panchayat president. Thite said the election was won by "hooliganism", even as 17 other BJP members were elected unopposed. Apart from Patil, other key NCP leaders in the district and dozens of party workers joined the BJP in Solapur. Meanwhile, in Amaravati, supporters of Sanjay Khodake, an MLC a close confidant of Ajit Pawar, joined the BJP along with several former NCP corporators from the Chikhaldara nagar panchayat. The NCP under Khodke had ruled the local body for 15 long years. Khodke and his MLA wife Sulabha remain loyal to the party. The power struggle between the BJP and its ally, the NCP, in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, where both parties are equally strong, is at fever pitch. "In the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the BJP rose to 97 corporators in 2017 from just 26 five years earlier (in a 162-member body), only because it poached NCP corporators ahead of the elections. It used the same strategy in neighbouring PCMC. This means most of the corporators in both local bodies are originally from our party," said a senior NCP leader. "Although key leaders have switched sides, local leaders and workers are still with us. Our straight fight will be against the BJP in these elections," he said. In the MMR, the battle between the BJP and Sena has made headlines. Elections here will determine who controls nine municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), and over a dozen other urban and rural local bodies. The BJP has inducted 17 former Sena corporators from MMR in the last few months, while the Sena has got nine former BJP corporators to cross over. The Mahayuti's sweep in the assembly elections last year fuelled the BJP's ambition to wrest control of all local bodies in the state. Exactly a year later, they are rolling out a plan to gain absolute control. In some districts, its allies are putting up a spirited fight, teaming up with opposition parties like the Congress and NCP (SP) for the upcoming polls. In Sindhudurg, Nilesh Rane, Shiv Sena MLA, elder brother of fisheries minister, Kankavli MLA and BJP leader Nitesh Rane, has formed an all-party anti-BJP front for the nagar panchayat elections. The Shahar Vikas Aghadi comprises leaders and workers from even opposition parties including the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT). "We are coming together for the development of Malvan. I do not think there will be an alliance of the ruling parties now, as some people (from the BJP) did not want the alliance," said Nilesh Rane. Similarly, in at least a dozen local bodies across the state, leaders with clout have been leading local fronts irrespective of party affiliations. In Kagal taluka in Kolhapur district, senior NCP leader Hassan Mushrif has joined hands with Samarjeet Ghatge of the NCP (SP) for the Kagal Municipal Council poll. The two leaders had contested against each other in the assembly elections. In the neighbouring Chandgad taluka, the NCP and NCP (SP) will together contest the municipal council poll, against candidates from their respective alliance partners. Emboldened by the blurring of party lines, in some districts, leaders from various parties have united against a common enemy - in most cases, against the BJP or a local leader. As in Sindhudurg, NCP and Congress leaders have joined hands against Sena leader Tanaji Sawant in Paranda in Dharashiv. In Jat, in Sangli, leaders from the Congress and even the BJP have formed a local front against the BJP's Dhangar face, Gopichand Padalkar. From "double engine' to "triple engine", the BJP aims to hold power at the centre, in the state and, now, at the local level too. "The strategy of poaching big names worked in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, taking us closer to the numbers needed to form the government in Maharashtra. Later, in the local body polls held between 2015-2018, we emerged as the largest party, owing to a strengthened leadership at the taluka and district level," said a BJP leader, a part of the BJP's core team during general elections last year. The strategy now is it induct powerful leaders at the local level, regardless of party affiliation, even if it means poaching from its allies. "The defection of NCP leaders in Bhoom, Mohol in Dharashiv, and Sena leaders in Kalyan-Dombivali in MMR was part of the strategy," said the leader. "In Thane, we are in direct political competition with the Sena and cannot compromise our growth prospects for the 'dharma of the alliance'. Similarly, our growth in Solapur, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad is at the cost of the NCP but it is part of the strategy," said the leader. Another leader pointed out that there was no opposition to speak of in the state. "The infighting to occupy the vacuum left by the opposition is obvious. Since we are the largest player in all respects and aim to be in a position to form the government without any support, the steps being taken are strategic," said the leader. Keshav Upadhye, BJP spokesperson, denied that such a strategy was being deployed. "In some districts, there are local alliances because of the local situation and insistence by local leaders. But this will not affect the spirit of the Mahayuti alliance," he said....