NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah’s ‘go it alone’ policy is alienating its allies in the election bound states. This of course, has been factored in by Shah who is busy working on the state units in Haryana, Maharashtra and even Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that the party emerges as a major victor in all the three states where Assembly elections are going to be held this year.

The Haryana Janhit Congress has pulled out of the three year old alliance with the BJP, that has itself been under pressure from its workers in the state to face the electorate on its own. The resounding Lok Sabha results have had a major impact on the psyche of the party that sees itself on a roll, and in a position to win the elections in at least these three states to begin with.

HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of his far more influential father Bhajan Lal, announced the decision to break the alliance by accusing the BJP of being “a serial betrayer”. He insisted that the “BJP tried to strangle me at every stage.” Bishnoi was marginalised in the parliamentary elections losing the two seats his party had contested, as against the seven seats the BJP won. The HJC leader lost his own seat to a young candidate, and has been miffed with the party for not allowing him to campaign in the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact local newspapers had commented on Bishnoi’s absence from rallies addressed by Modi at the time.

The decision to break the alliance is also because of his inability to bargain for more seats in these elections. Shah, sensing victory, has taken a clear decision to pump up the party units in the respective states and ensure that the workers are able to capitalise on the pro-Modi mood and bring the BJP to power. Sources said he is confident of this strategy and cannot be bothered with small parties like Bishnoi’s. In fact taking the cue from Shah, BJP spokesperson even described the HJC as “the Congress B-team.” He said this was the reason for snapping ties, as “we have never betrayed anybody.”

In Maharashtra too there were tense moments following Shah’s address to the local state unit to move for forming the government in the state. The Shiv Sena reacted badly to this, but has clearly taken a decision not to push the issue beyond a point. Sena leader Sanjay Raut told reporters that “the chief minister will of course belong to the Shiv Sena. That is the tacit understanding between both the parties. We support BJP at the centre. At the State level they support us.”

Shah has not joined further issue with the Shiv Sena, letting it be known to the BJP that it should drive into the state elections full throttle. Talks for seat adjustments between the allies will be interesting, as both will clearly be in contest to get the maximum number of seats. Sources predict a split at the time of the allocation of seats itself, as under Shah the BJP will not climb down into second place. It might be recalled that senior BJP leaders had opened channels of communication with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Raj Thackeray that had led to an exchange of words with the furious Shiv Sena during the Lok Sabha election campaign. The state unit of the BJP has been advocating an alliance with the more popular MNS for a while now that the central leadership has resisted, unwilling to rock the boat at this point.

In Jammu and Kashmir too the BJP is looking to secure a maximum number of seats from the Ladakh and particularly Jammu regions, as well as open its account in the Valley. A tally of 44+ that Shah has described as a “Mission” is what he is pushing for, but at the same time also tying up with smaller parties like the Peoples Conference in Kashmir for possible link up’s post polls. Shah is clear that post poll adjustments are always open but in the run up to voting day, he and the BJP would like to test independent waters as it were, sailing on the pro-Modi mood that does not appear to be on a significant wane.

The Bihar by poll results where the combined alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress managed to stop the BJP’s victorious juggernaut somewhat by winning six of the ten seats. This has come as an acknowledged setback for the BJP but with the realisation that it will not be repeated, for instance, in the eleven Assembly bypolls scheduled to be held in Uttar Pradesh next month. The reasoning is simple: the communal violence has managed to consolidate the votes to a great extent, and the strong hostility between the Samajwadi party and the Bahujan Samaj Party will prevent any Bihar kind of alliance from emerging in the state. The Congress party has shown no signs of revival in UP leaving the coast clear for the BJP that expects to win most, if not all, of the eleven constituencies going to the polls.

Shah is an energetic worker and has picked out his own team members in the states. He has a network in UP that is almost independent of the old traditional BJP that has been virtually sidelined. For instance of the two veteran Lucknow leaders he is dealing with Kalraj Mishra, but has completely marginalised Lalji Tandon who crossed him directly during the parliamentary elections. He is however, working closely with the RSS in UP and Maharashtra having conceded to its demand not to try and form a government through ‘horse trading’ in Delhi. The RSS had reportedly told him to desist from this otherwise it would not support the BJP in Maharashtra. That crisis has been overcome with the BJP apparently giving up the proposal of reviving the Assembly, instead of going in for elections in Delhi.