Ending the issue of ‘illegal Bangladeshis’ as a major issue to be tackled, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday (Jan 13, 2026) said an AI tool was being developed with IIT-Bombay to identify ‘illegal Bangladeshis’.
“Right now, the tool is being worked on. Currently, it has a success rate of up to 60%,” he said during an interview with selected journalists at the Chief Minister’s official residence “Varsha”. He added that the state government had launched a major effort to remove “illegal Bangladeshis” from Mumbai and that the effort would continue even after the elections.
Talking about the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, he predicted that the BJP-led Mahayuti will register victory in 26-27 of the 29 municipal corporations that will be contested on the 15th.
When asked about the impact of these elections on the 2029 polls, he said that the BJP has already proven itself as the No. 1 party, but these elections will make the BJP the main pole in Maharashtra in 2029. “After that, politics will revolve around the BJP,” he said.
Read | Mob rule: On migrants, rising hate crimes in India
“The Biggest Underdog Raj Thackeray”
“The tone for this election has already been set. And the tone is for development, for change. It is development that has become the agenda of the polls. People are seeing what we can deliver,” he said, listing the infrastructure projects underway in the state. Talking about the alliance between Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, he said that Raj Thackeray will be the biggest loser in the alliance. “This is because he will not gain anything by being with Uddhav Thackeray. Raj Thackeray will ultimately benefit Uddhav Thackeray, but Uddhav will not benefit Raj,” he said.
Asked if the Thackeray cousins were struggling to survive, he said: “No one can finish a party. Sometimes people give you more, sometimes less. But if you don’t try to fight back, you won’t succeed. They didn’t even compromise their prestige.”
“NCP-NCP SP alliance is a local phenomenon”
Ending the alliance between the NCP and the opposition party NCP SP a local phenomenon, he said it was unlikely to continue. “But 2019 has taught me not to say anything firm about it. So far it feels like a local phenomenon,” he said, referring to the 2019 BJP-NCP government formation where the NCP pulled out of the alliance soon after.
When asked about the consolidation of the Marathi vote bank due to the reunification of the Thackeray cousins, he said that the Marathi vote bank is not a single share anyway. “We have Marathi voters. MNS makes no difference. We fought against Uddhav Thackeray in 2014 and 2024. And yet we got more votes. In 2014, 2019 and 2014 we won more than 15-16 seats (in Mumbai in the state legislature). Marathi voters will have to limit it,” he said.
“Mayor of Bombay to be Hindu, Marathi”
With the mayoral issue taking center stage for the Mumbai BMC elections, he spoke about the formula and also the criteria for the mayor. While predicting that the Mahayutis will win smoothly in Mumbai, he said that it will not be necessary for the largest party to win the mayor’s seat. “Mayor will be Mahayuti, Hindu and Marathi. The question of a Muslim mayor came up when Kripashankar Singh was talking about a Hindu mayor in Mira Bhayander. The next day, AIMIM said that a ‘burqewali’ (burqa-clad woman) would become the mayor of Mumbai. Hutter, who Shiv Sena mayor attacked UBT and Hindu JP, the only word against AIMIM is that when we criticized them for making Khan the mayor of Mumbai, if they come to power,” he said.
Ambarnath, As isolated incidents
Mr. Fadnavis was asked about poll combinations in Ambarnath and Akot. In Akot, BJP joined hands with AIMIM among others to come to power in the local body. In Ambarnath, she fought against her ally the Shiv Sena to try to keep her out of power. In the end, Shiv Sena trumped the BJP with the help of the NCP and wrested power back from the BJP.
“In Akot, it is technical. We entered into alliance with NCP. NCP joined others including AIMIM in alliance after poll. When we realized this, we gave a show cause notice to our local leader and withdrew from there. In Ambarnath, there was a report that was spread that BJP was fighting against its own ally, when I told Ravan Sena there, Ravan Sena had decided.” I also spoke to Eknath Shinde,” he said.
When asked about the strange political combinations in the state for these local body elections where Mahayuti elements were seen fighting each other and making scathing personal attacks against each other, he said it was decided that there would be no personal attacks. Terming Cabinet Minister Ganesh Naik’s personal attacks against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he said, were “wrong”, saying that the decision was taken by all parties but Ajit Pawar broke the rule in Pune.
Published – 13 Jan 2026 21:58 IST
