‘Grand master’ banners hail CM Devendra Fadnavis after BJP’s record 57 corporators in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: Riding high on its best-ever performance in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has signalled a decisive shift in the region's political landscape. Across the city, banners have appeared projecting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis as a political "grandmaster," celebrating the party's newfound dominance. The BJP clinched 57 seats, its highest-ever tally in the city — a result party leaders are calling a landmark moment for its expansion into the Marathwada region. The banners, largely credited to BAMU management council member Basavraj Mangrule, feature a stylised, likely AI-generated image of Fadnavis against a backdrop of chess pieces. In the visual, Fadnavis is shown making a winning move by holding the king, symbolically suggesting a "checkmate" of his political opponents. The creative messaging has sparked widespread discussion in political circles, underscoring the surge of confidence within the BJP camp. The victory is strategically significant. Currently, the BJP holds two of the three assembly seats within city limits: Atul Save (Aurangabad East), who serves as the minister for OBC welfare and housing, and the party's growing grassroots network. While the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) holds the Aurangabad West seat via district Guardian Minister Sanjay Shirsat and the Lok Sabha seat via Sandipan Bhumare, the civic poll results suggest the BJP is gaining significant ground on its ally. Historically, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar civic body was the fortress of the Shiv Sena. For decades, the Sena positioned itself as the "big brother" in seat-sharing arrangements, routinely contesting and winning the lion's share of seats while the BJP played a secondary role. However, this election — the first since the Shiv Sena split — upended that traditional hierarchy. Negotiations for a pre-poll alliance between the BJP and chief minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena collapsed after several rounds of talks, forcing the allies to contest independently. The outcome proved sobering for the Shinde-led Sena; despite contesting 97 seats, it secured only 13. The result was a major jolt for the party, which had entered the fray confident of emerging as the single largest force. The setback was even more severe for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). Contesting 99 seats, the party managed to win only six — its worst performance in the region since it first entered the municipal corporation in 1988 with 28 seats. By contrast, the BJP's jump to 57 seats has firmly established it as the single largest party, fundamentally reshaping the city's political equations ahead of future assembly and general elections.