The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun its brainstorming session to resolve a crisis with its oldest ally in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing the party's central election committee meeting to discuss ways to convince the Sena to accept its formula of contesting 135 seats each in next month's assembly election in Maharashtra.
"The big question is whether the alliance with the BJP will survive," admitted the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today, making yet another "final offer" on seat sharing to the BJP. One that he said was a supreme concession to his ally "for the sake of Maharashtra".
The Sena made a fresh offer to its partner, but the BJP is not ready to buy it. At a national executive meet of his party, Mr Thackeray said his party was ready to contest 151 of Maharashtra's 288 seats, considerably less than the 169 it had fought the last time. He said the 18 extra seats from the Sena's kitty could be given to their allies in what is called the 'Mahayuti' alliance, leaving 119 for the BJP to contest - exactly the number it had fought in 2009. The BJP, its ally, would not then have to shell out any seats to the smaller allies.
Soon after the BJP indicated that it was not impressed.
"The BJP has a higher percentage of seats it won in comparison to the Shiv Sena," said Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde, two of the party's top leaders from Maharashtra. The BJP argues that after its superior performance in the Lok Sabha elections four months ago it cannot be counted as the junior partner in the state anymore and wanted both parties to contest 135 seats each, leaving the rest for smaller allies. The party then even agreed to contest 130 seats, giving the Sena 140.
The BJP said there was a rationale to its formula. "The Shiv Sena has never won on 59 seats, while that number is 19 for the BJP. If these were to be re-allocated then we would all benefit," explained Mr Khadse and Mr Tawde.The Sena takes that as a huge slight and says its cadres will rebel.
At stake is the post of chief minister; the partner that will win the most seats will get the post should the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition come to power.
The BJP leaders also told the Sena to, "make offers face-to-face, not through TV".
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