With the Shiv Sena clamouring for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attention and the Nationalist Congress Party offering it unsolicited outside support, the BJP’s smaller ally, the Swabhimani Paksha, expects it to ‘honour’ a written agreement about the party's role in the government.
Speaking to The Hindu , Swabhimani Paksha president Raju Shetti said he hoped the BJP’s thumping success in the assembly polls in contrast to the Swabhimani Paksha’s poor showing would not undermine its written pact.
“Our party may not have won any seats, but it had a significant role to play in the BJP’s 27 per cent vote share, especially its gains in rural Maharashtra and the western parts of the State. Unlike [RPI-A chief] Ramdas Athawale, we are not brazenly demanding a percentage for our party in the Cabinet,” said Mr. Shetti, adding that it would not be proper to divulge details of the agreement until the Chief Minister was elected.
Mr. Shetti’s party failed to open its account in the new Assembly. The Swabhimani Paksha, which had hoped to challenge the NCP sugar barons in western Maharashtra, conceded most of its strongholds in Kolhapur and Sangli districts to the BJP’s estranged ally, the Shiv Sena.
Likewise, the BJP’s other smaller allies – Ramdas Athawale’s Republican Party of India (A), Mahadev Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) and Vinayak Mete’s Shiv Sangram – were routed in the hustings. Except Mr. Jankar’s party, which won the Daund seat, none of the others managed to win even a single seat.
After the results, Mr. Athawale has been demanding at least two ministerial berths in the new Cabinet.
Reacting to Mr. Shetti’s statement, senior BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said that the BJP had always taken note of the concerns of its smaller allies and that the party would honour its commitment, if any, made to the “Mahayuti’s” constituents.
The allocation of seats for smaller allies in the Mahayuti had been a bone of contention in the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, which collapsed soon after.
