After the two parties overcame their estrangement to ally for the Lok Sabha polls, Shiv Sena leaders claimed they would be the senior ally and get their nominee as the chief minister after the assembly elections.
The BJP and Shiv Sena's alliance seems to be poised precariously with senior Sena leaders like Diwakar Raote and Sanjay Raut threatening to call off the tie-up and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mild rebuke to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.
While the Maharashtra assembly polls are due to be declared soon, the BJP and Shiv Sena's alliance has not been announced formally. Functionaries from both parties claim that the seat and power sharing terms are being hammered out by senior leaders from both parties.
After the two parties overcame their estrangement to ally for the Lok Sabha polls, Shiv Sena leaders claimed they would be the senior ally and get their nominee as the chief minister after the assembly elections. However, this was denied by BJP leaders. Yuva Sena leader Varun Sardesai, who is Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray's cousin, claimed the two parties would share the chief minister's post for two-and-a-half years.
The Sena is also seeking that the 288 assembly seats be split equally between the two. However, revenue minister Chandrakantdada Patil, who is seen as the number two in the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet, had stressed that while the Sena and BJP would contest 135 each of the 288 seats in the assembly, their smaller allies would get the other 18. The BJP also wants smaller parties to contest on its lotus symbol.
Since then, a number of seat sharing formulas have been circulating. Shiv Sena leaders admit that while both parties need each other, they (Sena) need the BJP a tad more. The initial bonhomie between the two parties seems to have evaporated when it comes down to the logistics of seat sharing.
On Wedesday, Raote, who is a veteran Shiv Sainik and the state transport minister, told a news channel that if the party did not get 144 seats, the alliance was likely to be called off. This was seconded by party hawk Raut, who is a Rajya Sabha MP and executive editor of party organ Saamna, in an attempt to pile up pressure on the BJP.
A Shiv Sena leader admitted that PM Modi's veiled rebuke to Uddhav over the Ram Temple issue on Thursday could have these underlying factors. "Like some in our party who want to contest the polls in an alliance with the BJP, there are others who are advocating the go-it-alone line. The idea is, when the BJP and Sena contest separately, they occupy the political space, leaving little room for the Congress and NCP. This will also lead to leaders from the opposition flocking to either party," he explained, adding they could enter into a post-poll alliance and power sharing based on their numbers.
However, another Shiv Sena leader said contesting the elections alone was not easy in terms of logistics and resource mobilisation, which necessitated the need for an alliance with the BJP.
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