Addressing a public rally in Pune's Katraj ahead of the elections, the CM said, "The Pune election is slowly heating up. One 'Dada' (Ajit Pawar) is making statements (allegations), another 'Dada' is speaking, and 'Anna' is speaking as well. Now the election is beginning to gain momentum."
Ajit Pawar, who is part of the Mahayuti alliance but decided to fight the PMC elections with his Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), said that the Central and state governments are providing "ample" funds, but the implementation has not been realised at the local level.
BJP Election In-charge (Prabhari) for Maharashtra's Washim district, Raju Patil Raje, has lodged a defamation complaint against Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for levelling 'unfounded' allegations against him and the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
Addressing a public gathering here on Saturday, Ramdas Athawale said, "Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde have come together, and Mahayuti together has shut down all the businesses of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray."
This election will be a life-changing one for the people of Mumbai and for Mumbai itself. We have to teach a lesson to those who only care about their own self-interest," Fadnavis said while addressing a gathering at the NSCI Dome in Worli.
Ajit Pawar's faction has reunited with Sharad Pawar's faction of NCP for the Pune Municipal Corporation elections, forcing Mahayuti alliance partners to go against each other.
Speaking to ANI on Friday about the 2026 BMC elections, Athawale said his party would remain part of the Mahayuti alliance and support the formation of a Mahayuti-led civic body in Mumbai.
"The unopposed way of ending democracy where they settle with the opposition candidate, either by scaring him with the threats of ED, CBI, or by bribing him," Chaturvedi told reporters.
"Ramdas Athawale is not upset; he is with the Mahayuti alliance. But he has his own party, so there is pressure from his party workers. Every party's workers feel they should contest the elections... There are 227 seats and thousands of workers who are interested in contesting elections..
BJP MLA Ameet Satam on Friday denied reports of a dispute over seat sharing among the Shiv Sena and BJP, saying that there is no disagreement over this matter and the Mahayuti alliance will contest the BMC elections on all 227 seats.