Possible defeat forced patch up, bitterness remains

After days of brinkmanship, old allies the Shiv Sena and the BJP shook hands again on Tuesday, after settling their differences over seats. Now it seems that the saffron partners were driven to patch up by the realisation that neither of them could win next month's assembly elections on their own, notwithstanding the sweep in the Lok Sabha polls only five months ago.

"There was tremendous pressure from our workers and legislators to stay together," said a senior BJP leader who was involved in the talks with the Sena. "Otherwise there was little chance of us coming to power. Contesting separately would have helped the Congress-NCP secure a fourth term."

The BJP leader acknowledged that the Sena has a broader base and stronger grassroots network than the BJP in Mumbai, Thane and parts of rural Maharashtra.

With this advantage, the Sena cleverly delayed discussions till the last minute, leaving little time for the BJP to bargain or work out an alternative to fight the elections on its own.

A Sena legislator also admitted that the division of votes caused by a split would have hurt them hard at a time when the anti-incumbency against the ruling Congress-NCP is at its peak.

What is worrying the partners still is that the entire episode has caused tremendous bitterness that could yet harm their campaign.

"The ones who have lost out are the four smaller parties that are a part of our Mahayuti," said a Sena activist. He felt that the BJP was placated with seats that were supposed to have been allocated to these parties.

Nevertheless, he was happy that the Sena president stuck to his stand. "By staying true to his word that the Shiv Sena would contest 151 seats, Uddhav Thackeray has emerged the victor in the bargaining," he said.

The Sena and the BJP tied up for the first time in the 1984 Lok Sabha polls, but the alliance was swept away in the sympathy wave for the Congress after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

The partners parted ways before the assembly polls the following year. Chhagan Bhujbal, who was then with the Sena, was the sole candidate to be elected to the legislature from Mazgaon.

In 1989, the two parties joined hands again, following the efforts by the late Pramod Mahajan and late Bal Thackeray who shared a superb chemistry. Both parties registered good wins in the 1990 assembly poll, the Sena getting 52 seats and the BJP 42.

Two years late, the partnership broke up during the BMC polls and the Sena lost control of the civic body. They campaigned together five years later and won.