Manic Monday for Sena-BJP alliance
23 Sept 2014 5:07 AM IST
But the 25-year-alliance between the two is all but over, as the BJP’s parliamentary board which met on Sunday late evening rejected Uddhav’s offer. Soon after Uddhav Thackeray made his party’s stand clear that the Sena cannot give beyond 119 seats, BJP told its old alliance partner that it was the duty of both the parties to continue the tie-up and sort out issues instead of going through the media, in remarks directed at the Sena chief.
The BJP also termed Thackeray’s final offer to it as being ‘nothing new’ as the BJP has been contesting on 119 seats ever since the alliance came into being.Leaders of opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and Legislative Council Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde said here the party wants Sena to renegotiate on such seats that they never won in the last 25 years, so that they are not given to the NCP-Congress alliance easily in the upcoming polls.
‘There is nothing new in the latest Shiv Sena offer as BJP has been contesting 119 seats ever since the alliance came into being. We want the alliance to continue. It is the duty of both Shiv Sena and BJP to maintain the alliance. We have 25 year-old ties and seat-sharing issue can be sorted out mutually through face to face talks and not through media (TV),’ said Tawde.
Khadse said, ‘Shiv Sena has been losing on 35 seats while we have been losing on 19, if these were to be re allocated then we would all benefit instead of these seats going automatically to Congress-NCP alliance. Many such seats had been lost by narrow margin in the previous elections. That was the thought and mindset behind the proposal for the 135 seats.’
However, the BJP leaders also said they were ready to accept 130 seats - five seats down from its earlier demand. Shiv Sena on Monday made it clear that it won’t make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for next month’s polls, and said this was ‘the final attempt’ to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
Mahadeo Jankar, president of Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP), a part of ‘Mahayuti’ (grand alliance of opposition parties) on Sunday asked Shiv Sena and BJP to finalise the seat-sharing formula by Monday, threatening that he would be out of the alliance otherwise.
‘If the differences over seat-sharing (between Sena and BJP) are not resolved by tomorrow (Monday), I and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghana led by Raju Shetti will contest all the 288 assembly seats jointly,’ Jankar told PTI.
The RSP leader said in that case his party and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana would contest 144 seats each.
‘We will wait till tomorrow, (Monday)’ he added.
Shiv Sena, in its latest offer, has proposed that BJP should contest 119 seats, but BJP has rejected it.
Jankar said the state BJP leaders, who are in Delhi for the parliamentary board meeting, were expected to discuss the situation with Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. ‘We expect the issue to be resolved by tomorrow, otherwise I and Raju Shetty will part ways with them,’ he said.
Ramdas Athavale of RPI, another member of the Mahayuti, demanded 20 seats for smaller allies. ‘Out of the 20 seats,
RPI should get 10, five each from Sena and BJP,’ he said. ‘We should not allow
the break-up of Mahayuti,’ he said.
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