BJP used NCP threat to bring Sena on board

Mumbai: Shiv Sena’s stand of having an alliance with the BJP was caused by the latter’s successful manoeuvring, which included tactics like both cajoling and threatening, it is learnt. Left with no choice, Sena had to bow before these tactics, which ensured that both parties decided to come together for Lok Sabha as well as Vidhan Sabha polls.

The BJP leader, who was part of negotiations with the Sena, said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was bluntly told that the Maharshtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are not politically untouchables for the BJP. If Sena decides to fight polls separately, it might also lose ‘negotiating power’ in case BJP emerges as the single largest party after elections.

“Though Congress is opposed to forging any kind of alliance with the MNS, the fear of backdoor agreement between the Raj Thackeray led party and the NCP was conveyed successfully to the Shiv Sena’s leadership. We also told them both these parties are not politically untouchables for the BJP,” said the leader.

Explaining the strategy adopted by his party during poll negotiations with the Sena, the leader said that the party mainly focused on three important points. “Our first argument, which nobody doubted, was that the BJP would anyway emerge as the single largest party after Lok Sabha elections even if it suffers reverses. This evidently means the BJP will be invited first to form government,” he said.