Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making yet another bid to improve its ties with uneasy ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
Ahead of the Presidential election where the Shiv Sena’s votes are important for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for a dinner this week in Delhi along with other NDA constituents.
Modi is also likely to have a one-on-one meeting with Thackeray in an effort to “clear misunderstanding and convince Thackeray that Shiv Sena is an integral part of NDA,” according to a senior BJP minister in Maharashtra who did not wish to be named.
On Tuesday, senior BJP ministers in Maharashtra Chandrakant Patil and Sudhir Mungantiwar will also call on Thackeray at the latter’s residence Matoshri in Mumbai to “greet him and prepare ground for the alliance talks in Delhi”, according to this minister. Thackeray has not yet reacted to the Prime Minister’s dinner invite.
This is for first time a direct and personal invite has gone out to Thackeray for an NDA get-together, confirmed a Sena MP who did not wish to be named. “Uddhav saheb will decide if he is attending this dinner but ideally he would prefer someone senior from the BJP or government to meet him at Matoshri if BJP wants our support for presidential election,” said the Sena MP.
At the same time, a parallel discussion is taking place within the Maharashtra BJP over the future of alliance with Shiv Sena in the wake of the latter’s persistent criticism of the BJP-led government and the Prime Minister. A large section of the state BJP is annoyed with Shiv Sena’s frequent tantrums and wants a “conclusive discussion with Sena over alliance”, according to a state BJP functionary who last week requested chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state unit president Raosaheb Danve to “rethink ties with Sena and call off the alliance to end the atmosphere of uncertainty”.
This section in the BJP believes the party could even go to the extent of breaking the alliance and recommending dissolution of the state assembly to face mid-term polls. This strategy was also discussed at the BJP’s state core committee’s meeting on Thursday, said the BJP functionary requesting anonymity. “We feel that mid-term poll is a risk worth taking because right now the momentum is with us and we could win up to 150-plus seats on our own to form a more stable government instead of this alliance government which is getting hampered by Shiv Sena’s daily tantrums,” said the BJP functionary.
The rationale being advanced by this section is that the next assembly or even general elections are unlikely to see a BJP-Sena alliance. “Maharashtra will most likely be a four-cornered fight whenever the elections are held. In such a situation, the best time for us to go in for elections is the one when people are in the mood to prefer us over others. For us to get a decisive mandate, elections have to be held now or at the most, within six months from now. We have scored back to back victories in local and civic polls and the momentum is with us,” said the BJP functionary. He, however, admitted that this was only a “state level discussion” and Fadnavis had not yet spoken his mind over it.
Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, however, told reporters on Saturday that “recommending dissolution of the state assembly would require Sena’s consent as it was part of the government”. “If the BJP wants to resign from the government it is free do to so, but it cannot recommend dissolution of the state assembly on its own because this recommendation has to be backed by majority,” Raut said.
