Political compulsions have forced the BJP and Shiv Sena to bury their hatchet and paint a semblance of unity in Maharashtra.
MUMBAI: Political compulsions have forced the BJP and Shiv Sena to bury their hatchet and paint a semblance of unity in Maharashtra.
The visit of senior BJP leader LK Advani and a meeting at the residence of the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thacheray this month, the presence of executive president of Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray at a BJP function to felicitate the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and editorials in the Shiv sena mouthpiece Samana downplaying the rift between the two parties all are indicative that the saffron parties have realised that they need each other for survival.
The two saffron combines had come to a virtual split after Shiv Sena decided to support UPA candidate Pratibha Patil instead of BJP led NDA candidate Bhaironsingh Shekhavat on the plea that Patil was from Maharashtra and she should be supported to uphold Marathi pride.
But now things have changed in Maharashtra. This change was evident at a function organized by an organization 'Vandematram Foundation' to felicitate the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function, Uddhav jocularly remarked that the BJP-Sena alliance was 'not glued by fevicol but the strong bond of Hindutva.'
To buttress the good relations between BJP and the Sena, Uddhav quoted the song from Sholay 'yeh dosti hum nahin todenge.'
Downplaying the rift between the two parties on the Presidential elections, Uddhav said it was 'nothing serious and all was now well between them."
Subsequently the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in an editorial in Samana, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece also said that the media had blown things out of proportion while the problems which the BJP and Sena faced in Maharashtra was nothing more than common cold.
The BJP on its part has totally dropped the idea of cobbling up an alliance with other parties. Earlier frustrated with Shiv Sena, the party had approached the high command with a proposal of an alternative alliance with other parties including Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thakeray and RPI faction led by Prakash Ambedkar.
At one point of time the relations between BJP and Sena had deteriorated to such an extent that there was virtually a tug of war between them. Fed up the big brotherly attitude of Sena, the BJP had openly told sena to break the ties if it wanted.
This is the first time that Shiv Sena had gone to New Delhi to hold patch up talks and therefore seen by the BJP as a sort of victory. This is because earlier whenever the relations between the two parties had come to a breaking point, it was the late senior leader Pramod Mahajan who used to rush to 'Matoshree', the residence of the Sena chief, to pacify him and iron out the differences.
During the annual 'Dussera rally', the Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray did not say anything on the Sena BJP alliance, but senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi in his speech did specify that the BJP Sena alliance was well intact and that some people were trying to drive a wedge between them.
Now the Sena and BJP are likely to meet together and decide on electoral strategies.
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