Shiv Sena, BJP seal alliance for MLC poll

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have sealed an informal alliance for the upcoming Legislative Council elections. Out of the six seats to be contested, the BJP will contest Latur, Osmanabad, Amravati and Chandrapur for local bodies’ constituencies whereas the Sena will contest Nashik, Konkan and Parbhani. The BJP has given tickets to Suresh Dhas in Latur, Pravin Pote Patil in Amravati and Ramdas Ambatkar in Chandrapur.

While Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had earlier declared that his party would go to the polls on its own, it has become clear after Wednesday that the parties have reached an understanding where they will not field candidates in each other’s constituencies. Interestingly, both parties have not made a formal announcement of the alliance.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has declared three candidates for the election. Minister of state in the Devendra Fadnavis government, Pote Patil, will contest the Amravati Assembly constituency. The party has also given a ticket to Mr Ambatkar for the Chandrapur-Wardha local bodies’ constituency.

In the Latur local bodies’ constituency, which is likely to be the bitter battle of this election season, the BJP has fielded former Nationalist Congress Party leader Suresh Dhas. According to sources, Bharatiya Janata Party minister Pankaja Munde was keen to give this ticket to Mr Dhas.

About the arrangement between both parties, a senior BJP minister said, “Thursday is the last day for filing nomination. The picture of battle is still not clear on the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) side. But, it is unlikely that BJP and Sena will jointly declare an alliance in this election. The Sena leadership has taken a strong stand over the alliance. We need to consider that and give some time for the cadres to cool down.”