‘Shiv Sena has the remote control of power’: Sanjay Raut
In the Maharashtra poll results announced last week, Shiv Sena won 56 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, while BJP won 105 seats. In 2014, Sena had won 63 and BJP had won 122.
The tug-of-war between allies BJP and Shiv Sena over the formation of a new government in Maharashtra continued on Sunday.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said his party has won less seats this time compared to 2014 but it has the “remote control of power”.
In the Maharashtra poll results announced last week, Shiv Sena won 56 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, while BJP won 105 seats. In 2014, Sena had won 63 and BJP had won 122.
“The dream that the Shiv Sena will drag itself behind the BJP is busted. A cartoon showing a tiger (Sena’s identity) holding a lotus (BJP’s symbol) in its hand tells a lot about the current scenario. Not taking anyone for granted is the message,” Sanjay Raut said in his column in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
Between 1995 to 1999, during the rule of the first Sena-BJP government, Sena founder Bal Thackeray had often used the term “remote control” to explain the way the party leadership works.
BJP and Sena are in the midst of negotiations and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who reluctantly accepted the status of a junior partner, is bargaining hard.
After the election results, Uddhav Thackeray had talked about the 50:50 power sharing formula between the two parties. He also agreed that who will be the next chief minister is an “important question.”
A day after the poll results, Saamana declared that “the keys to power” were with Shiv Sena. Some party MLAs expressed a desire to see a Sena leader become the chief minister. A poster put up outside Matoshree, the residence of the Thackerays, projected Aaditya Thackeray as the nect CM.
The 56 newly elected Sena MLAs met party boss Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday and told him that they want a written assurance from BJP that it will honour the power-sharing deal.
In his column, Raut said Sena would stay firm on its demands and targeted BJP for trying to increase its seat tally by getting key Congress-NCP leaders to join them.
On Saturday, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadvanis had said that BJP is the “single-largest party” and the mandate is a clear one for BJP and its allies.
Fadvavis said the process of government formation will begin after Diwali and the “mandate will be respected”.
Fadnavis, in an apparent message to ally Sena, said BJP had bettered its “strike rate” in 2019 compared to 2014. “We contested 260 seats in 2014 and won 47 per cent seats and 28 percent votes. In 2019, we contested 150 seats. We won 70 per cent of seats and 26 per cent votes,” he said.
