Shiv Sena (UBT) criticises Congress for going solo in Haryana

A confident BJP is likely to assert its authority in seat-sharing talks with its allies, who have been demanding more seats than the number of MLAs they have

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) unexpected historic victory in the Haryana assembly elections at the expense of the Congress is likely to have an impact on equations within the ruling and opposition alliances in Maharashtra, some of which was visible on Wednesday as the Shiv Sena (UBT) criticised its ally’s decision to contest the Haryana polls without the support of its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners.

Shiv Sena (UBT) criticises Congress for going solo in Haryana

On the other hand, a confident BJP is likely to assert its authority in seat-sharing talks with its allies—chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—who have been demanding more seats than the number of MLAs they have.

Turning up the pressure on the Congress even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) finalises its seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said the grand old party won in Jammu and Kashmir as it fought the assembly polls in alliance with the National Conference as the INDIA bloc, but lost in Haryana because it went solo against the BJP there.

“Now, if Congress wants to go solo all over the country, then it should announce it so that everyone else would be free to take their own decisions in their respective states,” he said. “If they had shared seats with the Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party or other smaller parties, the results would have been different. The way the BJP fought the elections was very good. The BJP won a lost battle. Everybody believed the Congress was winning, but it still lost.”

Raut’s remarks came amid ongoing tensions between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress over seat-sharing and declaring the MVA’s chief ministerial face for the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Before the Haryana results, the Congress was on the front foot in seat-sharing discussions, as it had won the highest number of seats (13) among the MVA allies in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. That dynamic might now change. The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress are tussling over seats in Mumbai and Vidarbha, which is a major reason why the MVA’s seat-sharing pact has not been finalised yet.

Meanwhile, the Congress and NCP (SP) have been firm on deciding who will become chief minister after the elections, but Shiv Sena (UBT) has been pushing to declare a name before the polls. As the Haryana results were coming in on Tuesday, Thackeray again appealed to his allies to decide the chief ministerial candidate before the Maharashtra elections, saying he would support the name they decide. Shiv Sena (UBT) has earlier pitched Thackeray as the MVA’s CM candidate. Party workers on Wednesday also put posters outside Shiv Sena Bhavan at Dadar referring to Thackeray as the future CM.

Speaking to the media, Raut also said there is no big or small brother in the MVA, while declaring that Maharashtra will not go the Haryana way. He also accused the Congress of ignoring its alliance partners in states where it has a strong presence. “The Congress has adopted a policy to use the alliance partners where it is not strong enough and ignore them where it has a strong presence,” he said. An editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana on Wednesday also attributed the Congress’s defeat in Haryana to its attitude towards allies.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole expressed displeasure over Raut’s remarks and the Saamana editorial. “We don’t pay much attention to what Sanjay Raut says and writes,” he said. “If he doesn’t understand the difference between Haryana and Maharashtra, it’s his problem. I will speak with Raut in today’s MVA meeting about the editorial. We, as MVA, are working in coordination and deciding the seat-sharing on merit only. During the Lok Sabha elections, we went the extra mile to keep our allies happy. Everybody knows this. There should not be unnecessary criticism.”

The BJP won a rare third consecutive term in Haryana, proving pollsters’ predictions of a Congress landslide wrong and bagged 48 out of 90 assembly seats. The Congress managed to win only 37 seats.

After the results, a confident BJP is likely to assert itself as the ruling Mahayuti partners finalise their seat-sharing pact. The Shiv Sena has been insisting on more than 80 seats, while the NCP has staked its claim on 60-70 seats. The BJP wants to contest more than 150 seats and is willing to leave the remaining constituencies for its allies.

“So far, there was a feeling in the Mahayuti camp that BJP would not be able to cross 50-60 seats, but that has now changed with the result in Haryana. We are firm on contesting 155-160 seats. Our two [major] allies and a couple of minor allies will contest the remaining 125-130 seats,” said a senior BJP leader. “Both our allies have 40-odd MLAs with them. We have told them that if they want seats beyond that number, they have to convince us that they have candidates with the potential to win the seats. It can’t be just the numbers,” the leader added.

Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Mahayuti is close to finalising its seat-sharing pact. “We have solved 80% of the question paper; only 20% remains to be sorted out,” he said.