Maha polls: Shiv Sena concedes big brother status to BJP

Days after the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena was announced through a joint statement, the Shiv Sena conceded the ‘big brother’

Days after the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena was announced through a joint statement, the Shiv Sena conceded the ‘big brother’ status to the national party and said that in an alliance there is “give and take”. In an editorial in party mouthpiece, Saamana, the Sena said BJP has become a ‘big national party’ which it has to accept.

HT Image

The Sena and BJP have formally not announced the seat-sharing pact so far.

On Monday, the two parties released a joint statement announcing the alliance for the Assembly elections, but stopped short of declaring the seat-sharing formula.

The Sena is expected to contest 124-125 seats and it has distributed tickets to over 75 candidates. The BJP is expected to keep around 164 and also accommodate smaller allies from its share.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had maintained that the alliance formula was decided at the time of Lok Sabha election, on Wednesday at his residence, Matoshree, said, “I will speak on the issues during the Dussehra rally on October 8.”

In the editorial, the Sena said it has given more by keeping a big heart in the alliance.

“There is always give and take in an alliance. We will have to accept that this time the Shiv Sena has given more than it has got… the BJP has become a big party on national level and many senior leaders from other parties are at their doorstep to enter it… Call it a lion’s share or whatever, but the BJP has many smaller ‘allies’ who have been adopted, and they have to give (seats) from their share. It was decided that the Shiv Sena will contest around 125 seats,” the editorial said.

The BJP and the Sena, which formed an alliance in 1989, always had an understanding that the former would contest a larger number of Lok Sabha seats, while the latter would get the maximum number of Assembly seats to contest.

The equation was disturbed after the ‘Modi wave’ catapulted the BJP at the Centre with full majority in May 2014. Subsequently, the BJP went into Assembly elections in Maharashtra without an alliance with the Sena and emerged as the single largest party, with 122 of the 288 seats in October 2014. The Sena managed to win 63 seats.

The two parties, who share power, were in a tussle for the ‘big brother’ state since then.

SHOW OF STRENGTH

The Shiv Sena has planned a show of strength on Thursday when leader Aaditya Thackeray files his nomination papers for his debut election from the Worli Assembly segment. The party has planned a roadshow from the party office in Lower Parel to the office of the Returning Officer at BMC’s engineering hub in Worli, where the 29-year-old leader will file his nomination around 11:30am. Party functionaries said that Aaditya’s mother Rashmi and younger brother Tejas will accompany him, while Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray could join them