MUMBAI: The BJP has suspended 58 functionaries from Mumbai and Nagpur for six years for breach of party discipline in the run-up to the January 15 polls to 29 municipal corporations, amid dissent that has marked the campaigns of almost all major outfits and alliances in the state. The suspended leaders include former mayors, corporators and key workers accused of rebelling against official candidates, attempting to tarnish the party’s image and failing to cooperate with Mahayuti contestants, BJP sources said on Saturday. Of the 58, as many as 26 are from Mumbai, including Divya Dhole (Ward 60, Versova), Nehal Amar Shah (Ward 177, Matunga), Janhavi Rane (Ward 205, Abhyudayanagar), Asawari Patil (Ward 2, Borivli, currently contesting from Shiv Sena UBT), Mohan Ambekar (Ward 166, Kurla) and Dhanashree Baghel (Ward 131, Pantnagar).
The remaining 32 suspended leaders are from Nagpur and include Vinayak Dehankar, husband of former mayor Archana Dehankar, as well as former corporators Sunil Agrawal and Dheeraj Chavan, the sources said, adding that the suspension orders were issued by Nagpur BJP president Dayashankar Tiwari. Results of the polls to the 29 municipal corporations will be announced on January 16. The campaign has seen high levels of acrimony, with constituents of the two major alliances — the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi — contesting separately in some cities and forming new and unlikely combinations in others.