Stitching alliances is a challenge, but accommodating the aspirations of each partner while holding on to their respective vote banks is a bigger task. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was attempting to assemble a coalition of parties to expand the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) faces a conundrum of how to adhere to coalition ‘dharma’ without ceding space.
After its attempts to rebuild ties with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab failed and talks with Biju Janata Dal in Odisha for an alliance yielded no results, the BJP is ironing out differences with its allies in Maharashtra, the Shiva Sena (Shinde faction) and the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).
Although the parties run the state government in a coalition and have largely had cordial ties, the election season has come with challenges that the BJP was hoping to avoid. Just as it managed to amicably arrive at a seat-sharing agreement in Bihar with its ally Janata Dal (United) and managed to keep the small parties such as the LJP and the HAM happy, it had expected a smooth show in Maharashtra as well.
Some Sena and NCP leaders aspiring for tickets have threatened to file nominations as dissidents forcing chief minister Eknath Shinde, and his two deputies – Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar – to put their heads together to resolve differences.
{{/usCountry}}Some Sena and NCP leaders aspiring for tickets have threatened to file nominations as dissidents forcing chief minister Eknath Shinde, and his two deputies – Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar – to put their heads together to resolve differences.
{{/usCountry}}First up was the challenge to get former MLA Vijay Shivtare to pull out of the race and support Sunetra Pawar in Baramati. Sunetra is Ajit Pawar’s wife and will be taking on sitting MP and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule in the family bastion.
The BJP’s decision to field independent MP Navneet Rana from Amravati has also upset the coalition partners.
So far, the BJP has announced 24 candidates, while the Sena has announced eight and NCP two for the upcoming polls. There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Govinda with Sena
The Shiva Sena (Shinde faction) is upbeat after popular film actor Govinda joined the party on Thursday. While the actor is hopeful of getting a ticket to contest from Mumbai Northwest, the party is hoping his electoral battle will be a repeat of his 2004 performance when he contested from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat as a Congress candidate and defeated BJP’s Ram Naik.
The actor who made his electoral debut in 2004 hit the headlines after defeating Naik, a former Union minister and four-time MP.