Smaller allies threaten to quit ‘Mahayuti’

BJP-Shiv Sena seat-sharing hits a new road block

With barely 72 hours left before nominations close for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena seat-sharing has hit a new road block with the smaller allies of the ‘Mahayuti’ threatening to pull out over the raw deal offered to them.

The only consolation for the smaller parties is that the BJP on Wednesday threw its weight behind the four disgruntled allies, stressing that it was in no mood to fight the election without them.

Both BJP’s Maharashtra in-charge Rajiv Pratap Rudy and BJP State president Devendra Fadnavis said the allies had stood by them during the Lok Sabha elections. “We have a strong understanding with them. Not under any condition can we leave them, no formula without them is acceptable,” Mr. Rudy said.

The Sena, while conceding that the smaller parties needed to be on board, said it was the BJP that needed to concede more seats to keep them in the fold. The earlier understanding was that the smaller parties would get at least 18 seats.

In the 2009 Assembly elections, the Sena had contested 169 seats in contrast to the BJP’s 119. The Sena’s contention is that to accommodate the new allies it had agreed to contest 151 seats.

Both the Sena and the BJP are keen on avoiding blame for causing a crack in the alliance.

Mr. Fadnavis said the BJP was trying its best to get more space for the allies. “It’s our responsibility to keep them with us,” he said.

“The Sena cannot contest anything less than 150 seats. The responsibility of keeping together the Mahayuti is with the BJP,” senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam said.

After a late-night meeting on Tuesday with the larger partners, the four allies, Ramdas Athawale’s RPI-A, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana of MP Raju Shetty, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and the Shivsangram Sanghatana, threatened to walk out of the alliance alleging “betrayal” and “insult.”

Excluding the RPI-A, these allies met on Wednesday morning to discuss their course of action. They later held meetings with both the BJP and the Sena. A final call on the fate of the alliance could be taken on Thursday.