Saturday, Apr 27, 2024 | Last Update : 06:51 AM IST
BJP cadre say can do without ally
Despite senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu’s call for the state BJP and Shiv Sena to settle their differences, several BJP leaders and party workers on Sunday said that it should go it alone in Maharash
Despite senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu’s call for the state BJP and Shiv Sena to settle their differences, several BJP leaders and party workers on Sunday said that it should go it alone in Maharashtra. A discussion on the alliance with Shiv Sena took place on the second day of BJP’s state executive meeting after senior leader Vinod Tawde moved a proposal to congratulate Shiv Sena on its golden jubilee anniversary. However, several other leaders, including former Mumbai BJP president and MLC Madhu Chavan, said that BJP is capable of winning elections on its own and there was no reason to give any importance to Shiv Sena.
After Mr Tawde presented a resolution to congratulate Shiv Sena, the party local party leaders started a discussion on whether to have the alliance with Shiv Sena or not in next year’s municipal elections. Though Mr Naidu on Saturday termed both the parties as “brothers” and stressed that both the parties should resolve the issues between them, the tone of most of the speakers on Sunday was against forming alliance with Shiv Sena.
Leading the call for going it alone, Mr Chavan reminded his party leaders how Shiv Sena has been criticizing the BJP leaders and even called the party “Nizamacha baap” (father of Nizam).
“There is no need to have an alliance with those who call us Nizam’s father. We should contest elections on our own. The BJP has the strength to win elections on its own,” Mr Chavan said while party workers cheered him.
BJP MP Nana Patole also said that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray needs to tell his party’s ministers that the BJP is their ally.
The relations between the two saffron parties have been strained ever since they broke the alliance prior to the 2014 Assembly elections (Sena joined the BJP-led government later). Sena, especially through its mouthpiece Saamana, has been regularly taking swipes at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ahead of the next year’s civic elections in Mumbai, BJP leaders, of late, too have adopted aggressive posture towards Sena.
