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No word yet on alliance with BJP for LS elections, Shiv Sena prepares to go solo in Maharashtra
The BJP and Sena contested the 2014 LS polls in an alliance. Out of the 48 seats, BJP contested 24 and won 23; the Sena contested 22 and won 18.
While there is no final word on an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yet, the Shiv Sena has begun its preparations to go solo, if needed, for the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections. According to a Sena leader, the Sena has begun identifying candidates for all 48 constituencies in Maharasthtra.
Despite overtures from the BJP for a pre-poll alliance before the general elections, the Sena is in no mood to give in. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is likely to play hardball with the BJP. Reportedly, senior Sena leader and industries minister Subhash Desai and senior BJP leader and union environment minister Prakash Javadekar have had a few rounds of talks, but they have not yielded any outcome. Senior Sena leaders, however, maintain that there have been no talks.
When asked about reports of Sena demanding half the LS seats as part of the pact , CM Devendra Fadnavis had said last week that those were talks going on only in the media.
“Any party has a right to start planning for elections, so we are no different. We have started gearing up at the ground level; we are engaging with booth-level workers. We are chalking out details for all constituencies and preparing a list of probable candidates. The exercise to plan rallies is also on. Alliance or no alliance, we have to start preparing,” said a Sena leader. Another party worker, however, said that this does not mean that the party will surely go solo in the election, but the preparations will help put pressure on the ally, while negotiating for seats.
The BJP and Sena contested the 2014 LS polls in an alliance. Out of the 48 seats, BJP contested 24 and won 23; the Sena contested 22 and won 18.
Read | ‘If there is no tie-up, BJP will defeat ex-allies,’ says Amit Shah
Though the BJP has been insistent on the alliance and has not replied to Sena’s barbs, the latest attack by Sena leadership against PM Narendra Modi has been taken seriously by the BJP.
The Sena attacked Modi over his statement that any decision on an ordinance for the construction of Ram mandir in Ayodhya can be considered only after the judicial process is over. The Sena said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna that Modi spoke the truth for the first time in the past four years.
Fadnavis said a ‘fitting reply’ will be given ‘at the right time and in right fashion’. Even BJP chief Amit Shah, during a meeting last week, had asked party MPs in the state to prepare to go solo .
The Sena is expected to continue its attack on the BJP on several issues including farm distress, the Rafale fighter jet scam, in the coming days. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will visit drought-affected Beed on January 9. Next week, Thackeray is also scheduled to address party workers, leaders, MPs and MLAs to lay out a plan for the polls.
