Less than 24 hours after asking Shiv Sena’s lone member in the Union Cabinet to quit, party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday sprang a surprise by saying that his party would take a call on parting ways with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the U.S.
“Joining the NDA and then pulling out is not that easy. All the MPs who have been elected and those who could not win have bagged votes of both the Shiv Sena and the BJP. It is the people’s mandate,” Mr. Thackeray said at his residence Matoshree.
On Monday, Mr. Thackeray had directed Anant Geete, party’s lone member in the Union Cabinet to resign. It came four days after the party ended its 25-year alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra.
The Sena is the second largest party in the NDA and has 18 MPs. The Sena leaving NDA will have no impact on the Modi government as the BJP has a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha.
However, in the event of Sena quitting NDA, it would have an impact on the Mumbai Municipality, the richest in the country and jointly ruled by party and the BJP.
