There seems to be a breakthrough in the seat sharing standoff between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena as the nomination date in the Maharashtra Assembly elections nears. While the Shiv Sena has now agreed to BJP's demand for a 151-130 seat partnership, the bone of contention now lies in the Chief Ministerial issue.
All eyes are now on whether the 25-year-old alliance can survive this standoff as none of the two parties refuses to bow down. Following are the options if talks between the two parties fail:
The BJP and the Shiv Sena contested the last Assembly elections forming a non-Congress, non-NCP alliance called 'Mahayuti'. The Shiv Sena this time wants 151 seats while the BJP is sticking to its stand of 130. The Sena has now proposed to fight 151 seats and has agreed to the BJP's demand for 130 seats. However, the Sena wants its chief Uddhav Thackeray to be the CM candidate, while the BJP says the CM will be from the party that wins maximum seats.
- In case the BJP and Sena decide to part ways, the smaller parties in the alliance have hinted that they will move towards either of the two big players.
- Before the polls, the BJP has the option of tying up with Raj Thackeray's MNS.
- The NCP-Congress alliance talks also hinge on the BJP-Sena talks. The NCP may also go it alone if BJP and Shiv Sena decide to contest separately
However, one is talking about a 25-year-alliance. Here is a look back at where it all began:
- In 1989, the two parties formed an alliance after talks between late Bal Thackeray and late Pramod Mahajan.
- In 1995, the Sena-BJP alliance won the Assembly elections and formed the government.
- In 1999, Sena-BJP lost power to the Congress-NCP combine, but decided to stay together.
- In 2006, Bal Thackeray's newphew Raj formed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
- In the 2009 Assembly elections, the BJP contested 119 seats and Shiv Sena 169.
- In 2012, the BJP tried to warm up to MNS.
- In 2014, the BJP-Sena alliance won 41 seats out of total 48 in the Lok Sabha elections.
Comments
0 comment