The Sangh view coincides with BJP chief Amit Shah’s scheduled meeting with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai Wednesday.
New Delhi: RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya has urged the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to keep its flock together even as party president Amit Shah is set to meet warring ally Shiv Sena’s chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai Wednesday.
Shah is also expected to meet leaders of another unhappy ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, on Thursday, it has been reported.
According to sources, the RSS — BJP’s ideological parent — wants the latter’s alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to remain intact.
Relations between the two parties have been anything but cordial in Maharashtra. The bitterness in their ties was in full display during the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll wherein the BJP defeated the Shiv Sena. The Sena has also announced its plans to fight the 2019 polls alone.
“Bhajapa ke liye chinta ki baat hai uske saathiyo ka roothna chitakana (It is worrisome that the BJP’s friends are upset and snapping ties with it)”, says an editorial in the magazine.
“For now, the regional parties despite stark differences with each other are seen united but the unity will soon break,” writes Hitesh Shankar, editor, Panchjanya, referring to growing efforts of opposition parties to forge unity in the aftermath of the Karnataka assembly poll results.
The editorial also mentions the fracture in the BJP’s alliance with the Telugu Desam Party, which had walked out of the NDA in March this year.
Expressing concern over the BJP’s defeat in the Kairana bypoll in UP, the RSS weekly magazine also says it is a lesson for the party which should not be forgotten.
Post-Kairana action plan
The editorial stresses that the BJP must talk about its next course of action to divert people’s attention from Kairana.
“I believe they need to keep the allies together…Nowadays, the only ‘news’ is the BJP’s loss in Kairana,” says Shankar.
“There is no mention of Palghar (where the BJP won),” he writes.
Shah-Thackeray meeting
Shah’s meeting with Thackeray is also the result of a push from the RSS to keep the alliance intact, one RSS source claimed.
“This is a time when the BJP needs to keep its house in order, especially at a time when the opposition is uniting against nationalist forces,” the source said.
“Opposition allies, if they join hands, can damage the BJP further,” the source added.
Shah, while celebrating four years of Modi government on 26 May, acknowledged that the BJP wants its alliance with the Sena to continue even in 2019.
Shah will also visit Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit in Mumbai under the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ (contact for support) programme, an exercise launched keeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind.