BJP lists out sacrifices it made to save alliance with Shiv Sena

New Delhi, 19 September 2014

Rejecting the latest offer of 119 seats by the Shiv Sena (SS) for the Oct. 15 Maharashtra assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party said it had always adopted a spirit of ‘sacrifice’ to save the saffron alliance in the past 25 years.

Simultaneously, in a mild softening of its stand, the state BJP said it has decided to send a fresh seat-sharing formula to the Sena before making any final move on the matter.

“We will send a proposal to Sena on the number of seats we want to contest. There are 59 seats where Sena didn’t win in the last 25 years and 19 where BJP didn’t win. We want Sena to consider this fact. We want discussion on each seat,” former state BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar told reporters after a meeting of the party’s state core committee.

Mungantiwar told media persons that the party’s core committee meeting unanimously expressed its desire to continue the alliance with the Sena.

There were reports that Shiv Sena had offered BJP 119 seats with a rider that it also accommodate smaller allies of ‘Mahayuti’, a rainbow alliance including smaller parties like RPI(A) and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, in its quota.

The BJP leader, however, made it clear that there would be no rapprochement at the cost of “self-respect” and “pride”.

“We want the alliance to continue. But it should not be at the cost of self-respect. We want a resolution while keeping intact our pride,” Mungantiwar said.

Mungantiwar listed occasions when Shiv Sena had taken positions that went against the official stand of the NDA but BJP did not object for the sake of the alliance.

“We have always kept a large heart in the past to save the alliance. When Shiv Sena wanted to project Sharad Pawar as prime minister, we did not object. Similarly, when they decided to support the candidatures of Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee for President, we relented in the interest of our partnership and for the people of the state,” Mungantiwar said.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Eknath Khadse added that in the past few years, the BJP has given as many as six sitting seats in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha to the Shiv Sena, but in return it did not get “a single assembly seat”.

“This time, we are talking about giving us seats which neither the Sena nor the BJP has ever won in all the past assembly elections. BJP will try to make inroads, failing which the Congress-NCP will get the advantage there,” Khadse said.

The duo reiterated that the BJP was open to continuing the alliance, provided it was worked out with “dignity and respect” for both parties.

“Now, our workers are not interested in making any more sacrifices. We are prepared for a seat-sharing alliance with respect and dignity. We should get to contest the seats which the SS has never won in the past,” he said.

Mungantiwar pointed out that of the total 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, the BJP used to contest 32 and the Shiv Sena 16 in the past, which has now increased to 26 and 24 respectively.

“For us, the immediate priority is to defeat the Congress-NCP. Everything else, including who will be next chief minister and other issues, can follow,” Mungantiwar said.

“We have been hearing from the media that Sena has offered us the same 119 seats we contested in 2009 polls. We will not commit such a mistake of adopting a via media to convey our proposal and send it directly to Sena,” he said.