Mumbai: In the run-up to the Vidhan Sabha elections in Maharashtra and municipal elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A.) has managed to reach the pole position in the Golden Triangle -- a make-or-break region.
For the ruling BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA), countering the Congress and its allies in this region is a challenging task.
Maharashtra has 48 seats and more than one-fourth of these seats are in the largely urbanised belt of Mumbai-Pune-Nashik.
The Golden Triangle is the economic powerhouse of Maharashtra -- politically-active with a mix of rich and diverse cultures. It has a sizable migrant population and is extremely cosmopolitan in nature.
This is also the region where several big political families dominate politics -- thus, it is these city-based political families who wield influence ultimately.
The Golden Triangle has over a dozen big corporations – the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, Thane Municipal Corporation, Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation, Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Nashik Municipal Corporation.
Incidentally, the BMC, the richest and one of the biggest civic bodies, has a budget which is bigger than some small states.
The Golden Triangle comprises seven districts -- Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Pune and Nashik besides parts of the neighbouring areas.
The region accounts for area involving 13 to 15 Lok Sabha seats and 80-plus Assembly segments.
Nearly 35 to 40 per cent of Maharashtra's population stay in the region and covers three geographical regions of Konkan, North Maharashtra and Western Maharashtra.
In Mumbai, which has six seats, the MVA got four seats, three won by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and one by Congress while on the other hand the BJP got one seat and its ally Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena managed a narrow win in one constituency.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs are Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Anil Desai (Mumbai South-Central) and Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North-East).
Mumbai Congress President Prof Varsha Gaikwad (Mumbai North-Central) was a valuable seat for the Congress from the financial seat.
The sole BJP seat was won by Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North) and Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Waikar (Mumbai North-West) won one seat.
As far as the four seats of the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is concerned, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena maintained dominance with two seats -- Dr Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan) and Naresh Mhaske (Nashik). From the MVA side, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP)’s Suresh Mhatre won the seat while Dr Vishnu Savara won the Palghar (ST) seat.
The Pune seat was won by BJP’s Muralidhar Mohol.
On the other hand, the Nashik seat was won by Rajabhau Waze of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s Sunil Tatkare, who is the state unit President, won the Raigad seat.
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