We want Shiv Sena to continue alliance with us: BJP chief Amit Shah

BJP National President Amit Shah in New Delhi | PTI

Amit Shah’s statement is significant given that the Shiv Sena has announced.

New Delhi: The BJP wants its Maharashtra ally Shiv Sena to remain in the NDA so that they can contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together, party national president Amit Shah has said.

“We want the Shiv Sena to continue the alliance with us. They are still in the government, both in the state and at the Centre,” Shah said during a media interaction in the capital Saturday.

Shah’s statement assumes significance given the BJP-Shiv Sena relations have hit an all-time low, with the latter deciding to contest upcoming elections — the 2019 polls as well as the Maharashtra assembly elections — independently. The party, which is the BJP’s oldest ally, has been consistently criticising its partner in its mouthpiece Saamana on issues ranging from note ban to high fuel prices.

The Sena has even fielded its own candidate for Palgarh Lok Sabha bypoll in Maharashtra, necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MP Chintamani Wanga in January this year.

Wanga’s son Srinivas is now contesting the 28 May by-election on a Sena ticket.

Tackling a ‘united opposition’

Taking a dig at the pre-poll alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly election in UP, Shah said some surveys had estimated that they would get more than 200 seats.

“But you know that it was the BJP that emerged victorious,” Shah said.

“We can garner more support. We still have time…we have approximately a year left for the polls,” added Shah.

Other estranged allies

When asked about what is seen as “disillusioned allies”, Shah said, “If two of the allies have walked out, Nitish Kumar has come back to the fold as well,” he said.

Sources claim that while the chances of reconciliation with Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh are nil, the BJP is keeping its option open for YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Reddy would not mind entering into an alliance with BJP if the Modi government offers special-category status to Andhra Pradesh, sources said.

However, Tamil Nadu seems tricky for the party as of now. On the question of an alliance with AIADMK or DMK, a senior BJP leader said no decision has been taken in this regard.

“We have a strong organisation in Tamil Nadu now and we are working to strengthen it further,” added the leader.

The party leader, however, claimed that even if BJP would go for a tie-up with any party in Tamil Nadu, it would eye the role of the principal ally unlike the Congress in Karnataka.