The Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party is not keen to have a pre-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena in the coming BrihanMumbai Municipal corporation and the local body elections and thereby daring its a
The Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party is not keen to have a pre-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena in the coming BrihanMumbai Municipal corporation and the local body elections and thereby daring its ally to prove its strength.
“Why should we fight these polls with the Shiv Sena... let the two allies (BJP and the Shiv Sena) fight the elections separately and come together after the polls if needed,” said an authoritative source of the state BJP.
The Shiv Sena used to be the senior ally of the BJP in Maharashtra till the 2014 Assembly polls but now it has become a junior ally.
The saffron party is confident of gaining in the polls in Vidarbha, North Maharashtra and Mumbai after realising that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party cannot pose any threat to it in the multi-cornered contests ahead.
According to the BJP, the Shiv Sena’s “Marathi Manoos” card cannot work in Mumbai because it would polarise Gujaratis, North Indians and South Indians against it, as they always prefer to remain with the party in power.
On the other hand, the Congress cannot pose any threat since its Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam imposed by the AICC cannot revive the fighting spirit in the party.
This is because he has not been acceptable to the rank and file because of his strong RSS and Shiv Sena background.
The Nationalist Congress Party and even the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena cannot pose any threat to the BJP.
The saffron party, which is gradually moving towards bifurcation of the state, knows well that the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress cannot hit the streets on the issue of united Maharashtra after bifurcating Andhra Pradesh without the state Assembly’s resolution.
The Shiv Sena might be critical of the BJP and performance of its governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, but it cannot quit the NDA simply because it is unsure of taking on the BJP, Congress, NCP and MNS simultaneously in elections.
A section of the Shiv Sena wants to have a pre-poll alliance with the BJP in the local body elections but the top leadership of the BJP wants to expose its ally in the electoral battle.
