The Shiv Sena, the oldest ideological ally of the BJP, has decided to contest over 300 Assembly seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at a time when the ruling Samajwadi Party, the BSP an
The Shiv Sena, the oldest ideological ally of the BJP, has decided to contest over 300 Assembly seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at a time when the ruling Samajwadi Party, the BSP and the Congress have started to identify nominees for the electoral battle.
“We will be contesting over 300 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections,” said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut here on Tuesday. He said he would be going to Lucknow in the coming days as part of the pre-poll exercise. Mr Raut recently visited Ferozabad and Agra in this regard.
The Shiv Sena, which has been sharing power with the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, had put up candidates against the BJP-led front in the Bihar Assembly polls. Though it could not win a single seat, the party is happy with the votes polled for its candidates in Bihar.
The Shiv Sena will also be contesting all the Assembly seats in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and could play the Hindutva card aggressively in UP at a time when the BJP and Sangh Parivar have initiated a debate on “nationalism versus anti-nationals”.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been maintaining an independent identify by refusing to become a constituent of the Sangh Parivar. Interestingly, the party has not been asking for a greater share of power at the Centre after realising that the current arrangement (alliance) cannot last long for two reasons — one, the BJP and the RSS want to split Maharashtra; and two, the BJP’s ultimate objective is to come to power on its own in Maharashtra.
