Mumbai: In 2014, the Shiv Sena wanted to contest 151 of the 288 seats in the Maharashtra assembly election, leaving 119 for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the rest for other allies. The party, founded by Bal Thackeray, always had an upper hand in various seat-sharing formulae in the alliance. The result — the alliance splintered.
Now, ahead of the 2019 assembly elections, the tables have turned. The BJP is reportedly set to contest a higher number of seats than the Shiv Sena, given its burgeoning strength over the past five years and a stellar performance in the Lok Sabha polls, while the Sena is negotiating for the best bargain possible.
While Sena leaders agree that the tide has changed in favour of the BJP, leaving little choice for the party but to accept smaller share of seats, there is still resentment among party leaders about the new balance of scales.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held marathon meetings Monday night to discuss seat-sharing arrangement, and a formal announcement is expected this week, sources from both the parties told ThePrint.
The two parties contested the 2014 assembly elections independently with the BJP winning 122 seats and the Sena 63.
The state will go to polls on 21 October and the counting of votes will take place on 24 October.
Also read: BJP is confident, Shiv Sena aggressive as Maharashtra assembly poll countdown begins
‘BJP’s power today is because of the Shiv Sena’
A senior Shiv Sena functionary and former party MLA, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that the BJP, which had minimal presence in Maharashtra until the early 2000s, grew “powerful” in the state only because Sena founder Bal Thackeray was accommodating.
“The Shiv Sena was strong in Maharashtra. The BJP wasn’t strong either in the state or at the Centre. But when BJP’s Gopinath Munde, Pramod Mahajan or Nitin Gadkari would sit with Balasaheb and request for a few seats here and there, saheb would be lenient and agree for those seats to go to the BJP without really going into what kind of base the Sena had in those seats,” said the Shiv Sena old-timer.
“The Shiv Sena cadre would help the BJP win these seats and that’s how the BJP grew powerful in the state. Now they are taking advantage of this power. Balasaheb gave (seats) with an open heart. The BJP should now do the same,” he added.
Multiple Sena leaders said the cadres are upset about the possibility of the party contesting fewer seats than the usual and several local delegations of party workers have been visiting senior Sena leaders daily, looking for clarity.
“Back then, no one had the gumption to challenge Balasaheb Thackeray’s decisions. The senior BJP leadership then, people such as L.K. Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had a different level of respect for Balasaheb. Today, the BJP leadership is not the same though Fadnavis and Uddhavsaheb are very close,” said a sitting Shiv Sena MLA, who did not want to be named.
Some Sena MLAs said when the BJP was not strong, the Shiv Sena would, at the most, grant the BJP 105 to 119 seats and let the BJP grow on its back. But in today’s situation, said on the them, it would be wise for the Shiv Sena to do what the BJP did then.
“Today, the BJP is strong and PM Narendra Modi has developed a larger than life image. On our own, there are doubts about whether we will be able to even retain our tally of 63 seats, so the smart thing to do is wait and use the BJP to grow in the state just like the party used us in the 1990s and 2000s,” the MLA added.
‘Picture would have been different with Sena in opposition’
Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told ANI Monday, “In 2014, if we had not joined the government and sat in the opposition instead, the picture today would have been different. The opposition is one main rival party that people look up to as an alternative.”
Raut classified his statement as his personal opinion while expressing confidence that a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance for the upcoming election will take shape and neither of the two parties are worried about it in any way.
But there are undercurrents of disappointment among Shiv Sena leaders about a real possibility of the BJP not respecting the 50:50 agreement that the two parties had decided upon before the Lok Sabha elections.
The warring allies had decided to jointly contest the Lok Sabha elections. BJP national president Amit Shah had visited Thackeray at the latter’s residence, Matoshree, in suburban Bandra, and a joint press conference had followed at a plush banquet hall in Worli. At the press conference, Fadnavis had announced that the two parties will split all seats and posts equally — after accommodating smaller allies — for the Maharashtra assembly elections.
A former Shiv Sena MLA and a senior party leader said, “We accept that the situation in the past and today is different. The BJP is in power at the Centre, Modi is doing good work.”
“Balasaheb used to respect senior leaders. Now, Amit Shah, who is the whole and sole (authority) of the BJP today, came to Matoshree and gave the 50:50 proposal. We can only hope that he sticks to his word,” the leader added.
Also read: Shiv Sena & BJP need each other in Maharashtra, but it all boils down to who blinks first