Swamy claims chances of Sena alliance with Janata Party ‘wrecked’ by Vajpayee

Mumbai Former union minister Subramanian Swamy backed Shiv Sena head and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did ally with Sena “dishonestly”

Mumbai Former union minister Subramanian Swamy backed Shiv Sena head and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did ally with Sena “dishonestly”.

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Claiming that Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray was impressed with his speech and wanted an alliance with Janata Party, Swamy in a tweet claimed that the alliance discussion was “wrecked” by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Talking about Uddhav’s statement to a daily, Swamy wrote, “Uddhav is quoted in IE today that BJP entered dishonestly into an alliance with SS (Shiv Sena).” He wrote that Balasaheb was impressed with his speech as a member of parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha, where he spoke about renaming the country to ‘Hindustan’. Impressed, the senior Thackeray wanted an alliance with Janata Party (JP), but in the meanwhile, Vajpayee sent Pramod Mahajan to talk about an alliance with BJP and wrecked the chances of a JP-Sena alliance.

Senior journalist and political analyst Prakash Akolkar said, “During the 1977 Lok Sabha election, when Janata Party contested election against Indira Gandhi, some leaders in Sena had proposed alliance with Janata Party. There was a buzz around such an alliance taking shape. But it is said that Balasaheb did not like the idea as till then Sena worked hand-in-glove with the Congress.” He added that he was unaware of Vajpayee’s role as claimed by Swamy.

A senior Sena leader said, “A senior leader, who was close to Balasaheb at that time, wanted an alliance with the Janata Party. Meetings might have happened, but it did not reach any serious discussion.”

Sena chief spokesperson Arvind Sawant said, “I do not recall any discussions during the time.”

Taking a dig at BJP, the chief minister on Sunday had told a newspaper, “It was alleged that the Shiv Sena is not the same as it was during Balasaheb Thackeray’s time. It is right. Balasaheb was innocent in a way, but I am not like that. I have myself seen how you deceived Balasaheb from time to time. Hence, I am behaving a bit shrewdly with you. I am not gullible...He was ignoring the games you played in the guise of Hindutva. But I won’t ignore it.”