Cat and Mouse: BJP- Shiv Sena Alliance Again Split Wide Open

NEW DELHI: “We have been used”, “they have stabbed us in the back” were some of the sentiments pouring out from the four smaller political parties who suddenly found that in the BJP-Shiv Sena deal their seat share had been reduced rather dramatically from 18 to seven seats.

Predictably these junior partners of the grand alliance have refused to part with the 11 extra seats supposedly for the BJP and have threatened to leave the alliance. The Shiv Sena has hardened its position insisting that it will contest the 150 seats it has allocated to itself regardless.

BJP president Amit Shah has subsequently cancelled his visit to Mumbai.

“Shiv Sena cannot contest anything less than 150 seats. The responsibility of keeping the Mahayuti together is with the BJP. If the BJP agrees to let go off five seats, they will still have six more seats that we have given up for them,” senor Sena leader Ramdas Kadam told reporters in Mumbai. He said that the Shiv Sena had already “sacrificed” 18 seats for the BJP and the four junior partners to share amongst themselves just to keep the alliance intact.

The Sena has already "sacrificed" 18 seats to keep the 'Mahayuti' (grand alliance of Sena, BJP and four junior partners) intact, Kadam said.

RPI leader Ramdas Athawale, RSP's Mahadev Jankar, Raju Shetty of SSP and Shivsangram leader Vinayak Mete attacked the Shiv Sena and the BJP for the “paltry” allocation with talks breaking down. They accused the two parties of “backstabbing” them and said they would not contest the elections in the grand alliance. SSP leader Sadabhau Khot was particularly graphic when he told reporters that they had come into the alliance because of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde because they trusted him. “But now our house is being burnt while trying to douse fire in their (Sena and BJP) houses.” The smaller parties are clear that they have been ‘insulted’ and Athawale

Meanwhile RPI has opened negotiations with the Nationalist Congress party and Sharad Pawar. Pawar and the Congress party are also still hammering out their differences with no likelihood of an early resolution to the seat sharing issue, although the nominations for the elections have to be filed by September 27.

"We had asked Sena and BJP two months ago if we had become a burden for them. We will go to people and organise a Sangharsh yatra in the state to expose our betrayal," Khot said."They stabbed us while talking sweetly. We will expose their real face to people of Maharashtra," Jankar said."They treated us like beggars. Now we won't go to them. They should come to us if they want to talk to us," he said.

Given the current state of affairs the Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress and NCP are all in go it alone mode. The BJP moved to accept the lower number of seats offered by the Shiv Sena from the share of the smaller parties, but was stopped short by the midnight developments when the four constituents virtually walked out from seat sharing talks that were supposed to have resolved the issue.

The Congress and NCP are not averse to a four cornered contest as this will convert the Assembly elections in the state into a seat by seat fight. The Shiv Sena and the BJP both stand to lose as they need the alliance to stitch the votes together. However, given the current stand off both claim that they are quite willing to contest the elections separately thereby leading themselves and their voters back to what The Citizen has dubbed the ‘cat and mouse’ game. The early blink by the BJP clearly did not amount to much.

The BJP is missing Munde who had stitched together the alliance, and had brought the smaller parties together. He also had the clout to be the foremost candidate for the chief ministers post that is now being claimed by all the parties in the fray including RPI. BJP president Shah is finding it difficult to handle the negotiations with Shiv Sena president Udhav Thackeray refusing to leave the drivers seat, despite the mad scramble.