Mumbai, Jan. 10 -- In a dramatic turnaround in the Ambernath Municipal Council election battle, deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde has outsmarted his state ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by luring four Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) councillors and an independent member out of a BJP-led front and staking a claim to power in the civic body. The switch has upended the post-poll equation in the 60-member council, where the BJP, after its controversial post-poll alliance with the Congress collapsed, sought to keep the Shiv Sena out of power by inducting 12 suspended Congress councillors. The Ambernath Municipal Council was among the civic bodies that went to the polls on December 20 in the first phase of the local body elections. The polls witnessed a bitter fight between the local units of ruling Mahayuti allies-the Shiv Sena and the BJP. The results, declared on January 13, threw up a hung house, with no party securing a clear majority. The Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party with 27 seats, followed by the BJP with 14. The remaining 19 seats were shared among the Congress (12), the NCP (4), independents and others. In a bid to keep the Shinde-led Sena out of power, the BJP engineered a post-poll front, the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, bringing together all other parties, including the Congress. The move drew widespread criticism as the BJP had aggressively targeted the Congress during the campaign. While the BJP's state leadership distanced itself from the local alliance, blaming the decision on the party's Ambernath unit, the Congress also said it would not tie up with the BJP and suspended its 12 councillors. The BJP, however, tried to win power by inducting the suspended Congress councillors into the party. With the backing of the NCP and independents, it appeared poised to take control of the council. On Friday, however, Shinde upended those calculations by weaning away the four NCP councillors from the BJP-led front. The NCP councillors announced that they were quitting the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi and tying up with the Shiv Sena. Shinde's party also secured the backing of an independent councillor, taking the group's tally to 32, one more than the simple majority mark of 31 in the 60-member house. "The NCP councillors cited discomfort in sharing power with the Congress, a party they have consistently opposed since 2023," said a statement issued by Shiv Sena. "Local NCP leaders stated that the public mandate was in favour of the Mahayuti coming to power after the elections, and not for an alliance with the Congress," it added. Shrikanth Shinde, Shiv Sena MP from Kalyan and Eknath Shinde's son, reiterated this narrative when contacted by HT. "We are in majority. The NCP didn't want to go with the Congress and supported us," he said. The BJP's chief spokesperson, Keshav Upadhye, appeared to dismiss the matter, saying, "These are developments at the local level. We are watching these developments." A Shiv Sena leader, requesting anonymity, said the development was a blow to state BJP president Ravindra Chavan, who had given his approval to the local alliance and later facilitated the entry of the Congress councillors into the party. The Ambernath episode has also revived a long-standing rivalry between Chavan and the Shiv Sena. In recent months, the two parties poached several of each other's former corporators, before calling a truce....