Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to meet MPs on pre-poll tie-up with BJP

Amidst BJP's repeated claims that its alliance with Shiv Sena for Lok Sabha election is quite certain, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will hold a meeting with 18 MPs of the party on November 3 to know their views before making his party's stand clear.

So far the saffron party has not opened up its cards and is in no mood to change it's 'go solo' stand. Party ministers and senior leaders have left it to party chief Udhav Thackeray's discretion to take a final decision on alliance with the BJP for the ensuing general elections.

The November 3 meeting is quite crucial in the light of the warnings dropped by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In a series of interviews, he has warned that both BJP and Shiv Sena will suffer damages if they fight separately and opposition Congress-NCP will stand to gain. Besides, Fadnavis has argued that Shiv Sena has to ally with BJP since it is the default Hindutva party.

BJP and Shiv Sena fought the parliamentary election together in 2014 and riding on the Modi wave won 41 seats with BJP winning 23 and Sena 18 seats. BJP's former ally Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana won one seat.

Thackeray's media advisor Harshal Pradhan told DNA, "The party president had already made his stand clear a year ago that Shiv Sena will not align with any political party but go independently. There is no change in this stand."

A four-term Shiv Sena MP, who did not wish to be named, said that the party has launched a massive exercise to contest the Lok Sabha election. "Despite being in power, the party is taking up people's issues for their early resolution. BJP may go on making claims that it will strike a seat-sharing deal with Shiv Sena. However, neither did we receive a formal offer nor any meeting has been lined up with Thackeray. At the November 3 meeting, all 18 MPs will explain ground realities from their respective constituencies and what needs to be done to tackle anti-incumbency," he noted.

Thackeray has already launched his extensive statewide tour in a serious bid to reach out to the party workers and voters with a view to garner their support for party's consolidation. Even though he has been silent on Shiv Sena's alliance with BJP, Thackeray repeatedly exhorts to rank and file to support Shiv Sena to single-handedly win a majority in the 288 members Maharashtra Legislative Assembly slated for September-October 2019.

Thackeray has asked all 36 district units to gear up for poll preparations by approaching voters at the booth level. He had asked the village level units to spare at least 25 party members each for poll preparations.