With each passing day the future of saffron alliance looks bleak in Maharashtra as neither Shiv Sena nor the BJP are in a mood to start seat sharing talks. While the Congress and the NCP have almost finalised their seat sharing arrangements, national president of the BJP, Amit Shah, recently told BJP MPs from Maharashtra to be ready to fight elections alone.
A BJP leader told THE WEEK that reports that the BJP had given ultimatum to Shiv Sena on the issue of alliance are not entirely true. "We want the alliance to remain in tact. Shiv Sena too wants it. Sanjay Raut's statement that Shiv Sena hasn't received any proposal from the BJP is a clear indication that they too want the alliance. Had they not wanted the alliance, Raut would have clearly stated that Shiv Sena has decided to fight elections on its own. But he didn't say it. But one thing is clear, we want to go by the same formula for seat sharing as in 2014. BJP will contest 26 seats, Sena will get 22. If Sena expects us to give up seats like we did in Bihar, it is clearly not happening. At the most, we are ready to exchange a few seats," said the leader requesting anonymity.
In order to assess the party's strength on the ground, Amit Shah will be traveling to three regions in Maharashtra in January. He will be in Latur on January 6 to take stock of Marathwada region. Then in mid-January he will be in Nagpur to interact with party leaders in Vidarbha region, and finally, at the end of the month, he will visit Sangli to assess the situation in Western Maharashtra. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats. BJP-Sena alliance had won 42 of them in 2014 elections. In the light of recent electoral defeat in MP, Rajasthan and Chhatisgadh the BJP is trying its best to minimize damage in Maharashtra and wants the alliance with Sena to continue.
Shiv Sena, however, is in no mood to listen or discuss seat sharing. Recently, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray went to the extent of criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi by repeating Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's chant 'Pehredar chor hai'. Uddhav's statement caused a lot of heartburn in the BJP and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis responded by saying that criticising the prime minister was like spitting at the sun. “Everyone knows where the spit falls if you spit at the sun,” Fadnavis remarked.
A Shiv Sena insider told THE WEEK that Shiv Sena is firm on its position of contesting election alone. "So far there is no change in our stand. Uddhav ji has not indicated anything to that effect to the party. He is the only decision maker in our party. An ordinance on Ram Temple by the central government could have opened a way for realignment of both parties but the prime minister clearly said in the recent interview that government will not issue an ordinance. Our party has given a call for 'Pehle mandir fir sarkar ( Temple first, government later)'. We strongly feel that Ram Temple is an emotional issue for Hindus and 80 per cent Hindus will support the government which constructs the temple. BJP has wasted that last opportunity when PM said that ordinance will not be issued. Had the PM said that he would issue an ordinance our party would have been forced to continue the alliance. Since that is not the case, chances of an alliance are very bleak right now," he said.
