Overview
- Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said on X that the BJP allies in states where it lacks numbers, comes to power, then marginalises its partners, citing Bihar as precedent.
- Sibal framed Maharashtra as the latest example of this pattern following civic poll results that made the BJP the single largest party in more than a dozen municipal corporations.
- Final tallies reported the BJP at 1,425 of 2,869 seats statewide, including 89 in Mumbai’s 227-member BMC and 119 in Pune.
- The BMC outcome ended the Thackeray family’s decades-long hold on the civic body, with BJP ally Shiv Sena winning 29 seats and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) taking 65.
- In later remarks, Sibal warned smaller parties they risk being sidelined by aligning with the BJP, a claim reported without a detailed BJP rebuttal in these accounts.