Amid talk of mid-term elections, estranged partners BJP and Shiv Sena on Tuesday smoked the peace pipe, singing the tune of unity over Hindutva.
NEW DELHI: The two-month-old frost in BJP-Shiv Sena ties finally thawed on Tuesday. The two sides have agreed to revive their alliance with renewed force and put the developments of the past couple of months behind them.
The breakthrough came at a lunch meeting hosted by leader of the opposition LK Advani for Uddhav Thackeray, working president of the Sena.
Both sides appeared determined to put the past behind them and cement the new-found togetherness. By evening, a joint press conference was held by Uddhav and senior BJP leaders from Maharashtra to announce the ceasefire and rebuild the relationship.
The backdrop for the briefing was consciously prepared with posters of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani being placed on either side of Bal Thackeray, the Sena supremo.
Advani played perfect host and gave Uddhav due prominence. He first had an hour-long one-on-one meeting with Uddhav after which BJP president Rajnath Singh joined them. Once the issues were thrashed out, state BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari, and Sena leaders Manohar Joshi, Suresh Prabhu and Subash Desai were invited for further discussions.
Both Uddhav and Munde admitted that there had been “misunderstandings” after the presidential elections, when the Sena supported Pratibha Patil’s candidature over the NDA’s Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
This misunderstanding has now been cleared. Uddhav claimed there were “no more misgivings. We have put the baggage of the past behind us and are making a fresh beginning.
The alliance will now emerge stronger than ever. Our alliance is not for any elections but for Hindutva. We will strongly work together to return to power at the centre and in Maharashtra. The NDA leader, whether Vajpayee or Advani, will be our leader for the next parliamentary elections.”
In another meeting, Uddhav met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to register his protest over the implementation of the Sachar committee report. He also opposed the Congress’s move to implement the Srikrishna committee report. BJP leaders Munde and Gadkari echoed his feelings.
For his part, Uddhav played the modest junior politician role. In response to a query on complaints over his style of functioning, Uddhav said, “I have also changed with time.” He pointed out that the alliance was over two decades old and a second generation of leaders was now at the helm. There was some communication gap, but this had been sorted out now.
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