India, Jan. 10 -- What had so far played out through indirect jabs spilled into open confrontation on Friday, as deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman Ganesh Naik traded scathing personal attacks and allegations of massive financial irregularities ahead of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections.

While Shinde's Shiv Sena and the BJP are allies in the state government, the two parties are contesting the NMMC polls separately. Shinde and Naik have been involved in a decades-old power struggle for regional dominance in the Thane and Navi Mumbai areas. The hostilities escalated on Friday after the Shiv Sena chief, spearheading massive roadshows across the city, signalled an end to the d...