Amid reports of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) climbing down from the 2014 seat-sharing arrangement in the general polls to 50:50 formula, the Shiv Sena on Monday said it will always be the ‘big brother’ in the alliance.
Even as the party claimed that no such proposal had been received from the BJP, its ‘brotherhood’ statement is seen as the Sena beginning to acknowledge that both parties may fight the polls together.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday held a meeting with party MPs at his residence Matoshree. Rajya Sabha MP and party’s chief whip in Parliament, Sanjay Raut, said the meeting was to discuss the party’s demand of raising the income tax threshold from the existing ₹2.5 lakh to ₹8 lakh. “The Union government has already decided to offer reservation to economically weaker sections (in the general category) having annual income up to ₹8 lakh. Then they (people) should get relief from income tax as well,” he said.
“As far as alliance is concerned, all rights are given to Uddhavji to take a final call. The Sena is the big brother (in the alliance with the BJP and other parties) in Maharashtra and will continue to be so,” Mr. Raut said.
He said, “There is no proposal from the BJP to form an alliance. We are not waiting for any proposal either. Those who wish to go with us are talking about it.”
Till the 2014 general polls, the understanding was that the BJP would contest more number of LS seats while the Sena would get bigger share in the Assembly. In 2014, the BJP had contested 26 Lok Sabha seats while the Sena had fought for 22. According to sources within the BJP, the party had agreed to come down to 24:24 formula for 48 seats in the State. But unable to reach consensus, both parties fought the Assembly poll separately. While the BJP won 122 seats, the Sena could manage only 63.
