MUMBAI: BJP and its oldest ally Shiv Sena are likely to part ways ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
A formal announcement in the split of the 25-year-old alliance between the two parties is likely to be announced shortly, top BJP sources said.
This follows failure of talks between the two parties after Shiv Sena refused to accept BJP’s demand for contesting seats more than last Assembly elections.
The development also comes just two days ahead of the last date for filing of nominations in the elections to the 288-member Assembly.
Amid indications that the 25-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance might be on the verge of collapse, both parties are making efforts to win over the smaller members of the ‘Mahayuti’.
“Whatever happens, the allies will be with Sena,” the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, claimed.
A senior BJP leader, on the other hand, said the smaller parties know that their interests would be served only by aligning with BJP.
“Be it a Union Cabinet berth, a Rajya Sabha seat or any position in the government, they know that only BJP has the power to do it,” said the BJP leader, who did not want to be named.
After hectic parleys with Sena and BJP leaders late last night, RSP leader Mahadev Jankar had said that the four smaller parties in the six-member Mahayuti (saffron-led grand alliance) had agreed to settle for 14 seats so that Sena and BJP could share the remaining 274 seats for the Oct. 15 polls.
Sena leader Ramdas Kadam had said that the discussions concluded on a positive note.
“The smaller parties are no longer dissatisfied with the seat allocation,” Kadam had said late last night.
Another senior Sena leader, Diwakar Raote, said, “The seat sharing formula is almost finalized.”
However, in an indication of the trust deficit ahead of the Oct. 15 Assembly elections, a top state BJP leader said, “The Sena leaders tried to incite smaller constituents of the Mahayuti against us.”
The BJP leader said that Sena was not willing to settle for less than 151 seats, leaving 130 to BJP and seven for others.
“How will the allies agree to such a few seats. This formula was proposed to us by Sena but later they (Sena leaders) tried to convince our other allies that it was us who had floated the formula,” the leader alleged.
“This sort of behavior is something which has raised our concerns,” he said.
“By not willing to come down from the 150 mark, Sena is making others insecure and indicating that it does not trust the other partners of the Mahayuti,” the leader said.
Junior Mahayuti allies RSP, SSP and Shiv Sangram had yesterday accused Sena and BJP of betraying them on the matter of allocation of seats but piped down after meeting leaders of both parties later in the day. -PTI
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