Stating that the Shiv Sena’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was strong as ever, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the seat-sharing arrangements for the Assembly elections had already been decided.
“We have satisfactorily sorted out the seat-sharing arrangements. The media need not worry about it at this moment. They will come to know at the right time,” he said, adding that all parties in the BJP-Sena ‘Mahayuti’ would be satisfactorily accommodated in the arrangement.
Mr. Thackeray further said that the Sena’s demand for the post of the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha ought not to be misconstrued as ‘disgruntlement’ on its part.
“The Sena does not believe in doing anything by sly means…Expressing a wish or demanding something by rights [Deputy Speaker’s post] does not mean that we are upset with the BJP. We have made this alliance [with the BJP] on the principles of Hindutva, not for the sake of merely securing two or four union cabinet berths,” Mr. Thackeray remarked.
Rebuking the opposition, the Sena chief drily remarked that he had no wish to participate in “the disappointment of those hoping for a rift” within the ‘Mahayuti’.
Quashing suggestions of any disaffection with the BJP, he said, “Now that everything between the two parties is going fine, we will ensure that this alliance remains firm.”
Mr. Thackeray emphasized his point by stating that he was satisfied with the Sena being only one berth in the cabinet.
Sena MP Arvind Sawant is the lone MP to be given the Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise Ministry portfolio.
When asked whether he would be touring drought-hit areas in the State, Mr. Thackeray said that the term ‘drought tour’ was a misnomer.
“Let us hope that this drought is on its last legs… Our [BJP-Sena] government’s aim has not been to provide empty succor to the afflicted but to ensure that the farmers and locals are well-provided in terms of fodder and food. I think the government has done its best to ameliorate the plight of the drought-afflicted,” he said.
Mr. Thackeray announced that he, along with Aditya Thackeray, planned to visit and review the situation in afflicted areas in western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha this Sunday.
Earlier in the day, the Sena president received a rousing welcome by local Shiv Sainiks as he landed in Kolhapur.
Mr. Thackeray, his wife Rashmi and son, Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray prayed at the Mahalaxmi Temple in Kolhapur with the party’s newly-elected MPs to celebrate the BJP-Sena’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
16 of the 18 newly-elected Sena MPs were present on the occasion. Also present was senior BJP leader and State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.
“It was the late Balasaheb’s [Bal Thackeray] dream that the MP from Kolhapur should be from the Shiv Sena. Today, the people of Kolhapur have helped realize that dream by electing Sena MPs from both the Lok Sabha constituencies in the district and I am grateful to them,” Mr. Thackeray said.
