While its ministers will be sworn in on Friday, the BJP is trying to tire out estranged ally Shiv Sena in the negotiation process and make it support the government on its (BJP's) terms. The Sena, on the other hand, is looking for a "respectable settlement" for representation in the government.
Though BJP leaders insist they are willing to take the Sena along, a central leader of the party said their ex-ally had not given them any proposal regarding power sharing. "No proposal has come from the Sena," he said, adding that however, Sena leaders had met Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and election in-charge Om Mathur for parleys.
"It is for the Sena to decide. We are willing to take anybody along. Our doors are open to everybody... We will not give them any proposal. After all, we are the single-largest party," he said.
"You may read the writing on the wall," guffawed another BJP central leader, while speaking on accommodating the Sena's purported demands like the deputy chief minister's post. He indicated that the party was intent on driving a hard bargain with the Sena. BJP leaders say they are not averse to engineering defections from other parties like the Congress, NCP and even the Sena, and getting these rebel MLAs to contest
by-polls as BJP nominees.
BJP sources admit that the high command is not too keen on accommodating the Shiv Sena, especially after the bitterness following the alliance break-up and the strident criticism of senior BJP leaders by the Sena.
BJP sources said in case the attempts to take the Sena along came to naught, they had the option of asking the NCP to abstain from the trust vote and establish a minority government. However, this support could come with strings attached — the watering down of graft cases against senior NCP leaders and the spectre of instability because of a fractured mandate.
"The talks with Sena will progress after the swearing in," claimed a BJP leader. A senior party leader admitted that they were in a quandary over taking support from the Sena —while this was an opportunity to take over the latter's social and political space by keeping it out of power, its "nuisance value" could be be discounted either.
Meanwhile, Sena's Rajya Sabha MP and party hawk Sanjay Raut made conciliatory gestures towards the BJP, claiming that "people want us to work together". The Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna', which has party president Uddhav Thackeray as the editor and Raut as the executive editor, has made conciliatory gestures towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi of whom it had been critical earlier.
A Sena leader, however, claimed that the BJP was positive on joining hands with its erstwhile saffron ally. "Two of our senior leaders (Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai and former group leader in the state assembly Subhash Desai) met BJP functionaries and ministers in Delhi. Was this possible without the BJP high-command's consent?" he questioned.
The Sena leader said, "We are looking for a respectable settlement," adding that the Sena had also set its eyes on the deputy chief minister's portfolio.
Sena leaders admit to a vertical split in the ranks over joining hands with the BJP with a section of legislators eager to join the government.
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