January 23, 2018: The Shivsena asserted today that it will have no truck with ally Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, but the party remained silent about its continuance in the governments at the Centre and in the State.
The Sena, which has been routinely attacking the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the State over a variety of issues–from demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax to the plight of farmers and cross-border assaults by Pakistan– also said it would now contest elections outside Maharashtra also. Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray, who was re-elected as President today, said it did not contest elections outside Maharashtra to ensure the Hindu votes do not get divided, but would try its luck in all Assembly polls in future, irrespective of the outcome.
The resolution to part ways with the BJP and go it alone in the elections next year was tabled by Sena MP Sanjay Raut at the party’s National Executive meeting which was adopted unanimously.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party taunted the Sena for the announcement and asked why it continued to be part of the BJP-led dispensations.
Maharashtra Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant termed the Sena’s decision laughable and illogical. NCP Spokesperson Nawab Malik demanded that the Sena withdraw from the BJP-led State Government and face mid-term polls. The fear of defection from its ranks is stopping the Shiv Sena from pulling out of the government, he alleged.
Thackeray, while addressing the party’s National Executive, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for flying kites with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu instead of focusing on insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP Government was spending money only on advertisements, Thackeray alleged, and said such a dispensation should be brought down.
The Sena and BJP contested the last Lok Sabha poll together but went their separate ways in the Maharashtra Assembly polls following dispute over seat-sharing. Though they came together again to form the government, the bitterness still endures. (AIR News)
