BJP, Sena announce tie-up, stay quiet on seat-sharing

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena on Monday announced that the two parties will contest the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections together,

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena on Monday announced that the two parties will contest the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections together, but stopped short of disclosing their seat-sharing formula.

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The two parties issued a press release signed by state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and senior Sena leader Subhash Desai as their formal announcement. It said the BJP, Shiv Sena, Union minister Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India, Mahadev Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and Vinayak Mete-led Shiv Sangram will contest the upcoming polls together as an alliance.

The statement also said seat-sharing details would be announced later.

“We have finalised a formula that is agreeable to both parties,’’ said Patil.

“It was decided to directly distribute forms to candidates. In some seats, there is likely to be some rebellion, especially in the Sena. So, candidature for those seats will be announced just before the last day for filing nominations,’’ said a senior BJP leader, who did not want to be named.

Senior BJP and Shiv Sena leaders said the unusual decision to announce the alliance via a press release instead of a formal announcement by CM Devendra Fadnavis and Sena chief Thackeray, was to avoid ongoing uncertainty over the alliance and at the same time stem rebellion.

Both the parties have aspirants for most of the 288 seats as they had contested polls solo in the 2014 state elections. Besides, both the saffron allies have inducted as many as 20 sitting legislators from the Opposition, who have to be accommodated in the ticket distribution process. There is also the risk that aspirants from the two ruling parties may join Congress-NCP if they don’t get the ticket.

For instance, after NCP’s legislator Pandurang Barora joined Sena from Thane’s Shahapur seat, the Sena’s former MLA Daulat Daroda crossed over to the NCP on Monday to bag the candidature. After the Sena started distributing tickets to its candidates from Sunday, many aspiring candidates who did not get tickets, , along with their supporters, thronged outside Kala Nagar gate, which houses the Sena chief’s residence, demanding a ticket on Monday.

Former Mumbai Mayor Shraddha Jadhav, who was preparing to contest the polls, expressed her displeasure over the Wadala seat going to the BJP in the alliance. The Wadala seat was traditionally with the Sena, but it was sought by the BJP after Kalidas Kolambkar, who won the seat on a Congress ticket in the 2014 polls, joined the BJP last month. Rebellion was also brewing in the Navi Mumbai unit of the Sena after the two seats of the satellite city—Airoli and Belapur— are set to be contested by BJP candidates. Several office bearers are upset and have tendered in their resignations. The BJP inducted senior NCP leader Ganesh Naik and his son and former NCP MLA for these two seats and is not willing to hand over either to the Sena. There is also disagreement between the allies over five-seven seats in Navi Mumbai, Mann in Satara and Kagal in Kolhapur, where the allies yet have to finalise swap of seats. Even if this swap is finalised, the parties would prefer to keep the candidature under wraps. “The discussion is still pending on seven-to-eight seats, with the BJP. It will be clear by tomorrow. There is no fear of any rebellion or aspiring candidates being unhappy. This happens in all political parties,” said Sanjay Raut, Sena leader.

The formula that is most likely to have been finalised is 124 to 126 seats for Sena and the remaining 164 to 162 seats for BJP and the smaller allies.The saffron allies have been locked in a tussle over the seat-sharing agreement for over a month. Sena had earlier demanded equal seats, which the BJP had refused to concede as it is keen on being the big brother in the alliance post the 2014 Assembly polls and the mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had however promised its ally equal seats as well as equal split in ministerial posts if the allies came to power.Meanwhile, when asked whether Sena would get the deputy CM post as part of the alliance agreement, Patil refuted this. “No such decision about the post has been taken or decided. Elections have not happened yet, so how can this be discussed,’’ he added.