Two days after the formal discussion between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) resumed in Mumbai, ending weeks of acrimony between the former saffron allies, it hit a dead end on Saturday, with both parties trading charges of arm-twisting and refusing to soften their stand.
BJP had sent a new interlocutor, union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan, this time to hold fresh talks with Sena. Pradhan held two meetings with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, but returned to Delhi suddenly on Saturday after Sena refusing to lower its demand of 50% share in power along with the deputy chief minister and home minister posts.
Will the alliance ever happen?
Sena once again on Saturday claimed that BJP has not yet given it a decent offer. "We have told them our maximum offer. "Now it's up to them to decide. They don't want a stable government, which can take action on NCP leaders in corruption cases," said Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson.
"We have told them clearly that deputy speaker and home minister posts are out of question. At the most we can give six cabinet and four minister of state posts. Sena must accept the reality."
Miffed with the happenings, Bhandari added, "Sena is demanding more than it deserves. In 1995, our seat difference was not much, and this time we have got twice as many seats as Sena got."
Will BJP contest corporation and zilla parishad elections alone?
"Yes, we would like to... We would like to win them all. What's wrong in that?" Bhandari asked. Observers say this is BJP's larger plan to weaken Sena.
CM Devendra Fadnavis said, "We want to discuss long-term relationship first. We would like to know the nature of our relationship in the local body elections of Mumbai and other cities. We can't have an alliance in assembly and then fight against in the corporation polls."
In many corporations Sena and BJP share power, while in some they have tie-ups with NCP and Congress.
Has the cabinet expansion been deferred too?
When asked about the date of expansion of his cabinet, Fadnavis said, "I am still hopeful of the alliance, and cabinet expansion can happen before the (winter) session. We can't run it with just 10 ministers."
When told that there would hardly be any time for the new ministers to get themselves acquainted in just three to four days, Fadnavis smiled and said, "We have over 80 first-time MLAs, so anyway they will all take some time to pick things up."
Is BJP wary of Sena's organisational strength?
Yes. Observers from across parties admit that Sena has better organisational strength in Maharashtra. They said BJP's delaying tactics are to weaken Sena. As both share the same vote bank, BJP may have plans to dent Sena's constituency, so that it can expand in rural Maharashtra, where BJP hardly has any strength.
An observer said, "BJP's all-India membership drive launched early this month is part of this strategy." The party has managed to get 8.5 lakh members in Maharashtra.
Political commentator Surendra Jondhale said, "BJP believes if Sena joins them, it'll be BJP's loss. They already have NCP's moral support. They just want to buy time and try to poach MLAs from other parties."
Is BJP trying to dent Sena's image?
Sena members believe so. "The way they have dealt with the matter shows they want to project that Sena is power-hungry and engaging in arm-twisting, disrespecting senior BJP leaders who come down from Delhi for talks," said a Sena leader.
Bhandari denied the charge. "Sena leaders have insulted us a lot in the past 25 years. They didn't take calls of Atalji and Advaniji. They used their mouthpiece Saamna to malign and target us. Our supporters are very angry about it. But we have not retaliated even once. Sena itself is responsible for its image in the public."
Is RSS playing a role?
Political commentators said RSS doesn't want Sena to join the BJP government in state. "The RSS has for the past 15 years maintained a distance from Sena. Fadnavis and his most of the colleagues have an RSS background and may consider it's directions," said Jondhale.
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