House and Opposition leaders selected at Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s general body meeting

Navi Mumbai: BJP nominated Sagar Naik, former mayor and nephew of forest minister Ganesh Naik, as the House leader of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) during the first general body meeting of the newly elected body on Friday. Naik was earlier elected as the BJP group leader. Shiv Sena's Vijay Chougule was nominated as the Leader of the Opposition. The BJP got 10 members in the newly constituted Standing Committee, with its strength of 66 corporators. Shiv Sena got six members out of the total 16-member committee, as per the party's strength of 42 corporators in the House of 111 corporators.
The Standing Committee is considered the key to the treasury of the municipal corporation. In the BJP, the party gave an opportunity to experienced and loyal corporators from its quota. They were former mayors Jaywant Sutar and Sudhakar Sonawane, Shashikant Bhoir, Pradeep Gavas, Ashok Patil, Suresh Shetty, Sagar Naik, Sandeep Mhatre, Swati Gurkhe and Anjali Valunj. From Shiv Sena, Anita Patil, Deepali Sakpal, Suresh Kulkarni, Akash Madhavi, Saroj Patil and Mandakini Mhatre were given the opportunity. Mayor Sujata Patil also announced the appointment of 10 nominated corporators in the elected House. The nominations were made as part of the civic body process to include additional members in the corporation. The appointed members include Kuldeep Suri, Bharat Nakhate, Jagjivan Keni, Aparna Gavte, Amit Medhkar and Laxmikant Patil, all from BJP. From Shiv Sena, the nominated members are Dwarkanath Bhoir, Sahil Chougule, Suresh Bhilare and Ankush Kadam.In the meeting, BJP corporator Shaila Patil put forth a proposal to fix the property tax rates for the financial year 2026-27. On behalf of BJP, Suraj Patil and Ravindra Ithape supported the proposal, saying that it was in the public interest to fulfil the promise of no tax hike given by forest minister Ganesh Naik during his election rallies, as well as post-poll promises. Shiv Sena's Manoj Haldankar and Divya Gaikwad supported the policy of no tax hike. On the other hand, Kishore Patkar of Shiv Sena raised a question mark over the tax coordination, while MNS's sole corporator Abhijit Desai demanded a discount for houses up to 500 sq ft. Chougule criticised the proposal, and demanded for it to be postponed, but Sagar Naik stated, "The decision to fix the tax will be taken by the Standing Committee."