Alliance partners unhappy with BJP-Sena row; want immediate decision on seat sharing

The standoff between the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance over seat-sharing is now causing anger among the smaller alliance partners of the 'Mahayuti'. 

Though the smaller partners want the Sena-BJP alliance to remain intact, as both the parties are still showing no signs of reaching any conclusion, the unhappy alliance partners have started preparing to contest the assembly elections without them.   

Speaking to dna, President of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) Mahadev Jankar said, “We want the alliance to remain intact. But it's taking too much time. In case the alliance doesn't go through, RSP will fight the elections alone.” 

He further added, “The RSP will contest 125 seats across Maharashtra. We will be contesting seats from Mumbai, western Maharashtra, Khandesh, Marathwada and some seats from Vidarbha. We want to emerge as a regional party and for that we need 6% votes. But we are still hoping for some breakthrough to come by Monday.”

Speaking to a news channel, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) leader Raju Shetti said, “The Sena-BJP should take a decision by late Monday evening. We still don't know how many seats the other alliance partners are going to get individually. And therefore, we can't even ask our workers to begin work. Our candidates are new and will have to campaign in their respective constituencies.”

An angry Shetti further said, “If your hunger is satisfied by taking our seats, then give us such a proposal. But both the parties have to take a decision whether to allot seats to us or not."

“If the alliance breaks, the RSP and SSS will be together and have discussed the issue, but will nevertheless take a final call,” he added.