The talks for a pre-poll alliance between the Shiv Sena and BJP, the ruling alliance in the BMC, seem to have now hit a dead-end. All eyes and ears will now be on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s public address on Thursday, in which he has promised to make a political statement
Uddhav Thackeray
The talks for a pre-poll alliance between the Shiv Sena and BJP, the ruling alliance in the BMC, seem to have now hit a dead-end. All eyes and ears will now be on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s public address on Thursday, in which he has promised to make a political statement.
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On the other hand, ally BJP is taking a cautious approach and has asked its leaders not to make any statements that would hurt the Sena. BJP’s stand indicates that it expects Sena to make the final move, after it asked BJP to take 60 of 227 seats, or else fight the civic body elections on their own. The BMC and nine other municipal bodies go to polls on February 21.
On Wednesday, the Sena camp met at Thackeray’s residence, where a strong sense of togetherness prevailed. Senior leaders from Mumbai and elsewhere told Thackeray that they were ready to go solo in all 10 corporations that will go to polls next month.
Sources said Sena has kept its list of Mumbai candidates ready. Insiders in BJP too said that they had almost finalized their list as well. “Let’s see if Sena declares its decision tomorrow. We are not really bothered,” said a leader.
However, neither BJP nor Sena confirmed if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Thackeray had a meeting or they would meet late Wednesday or Thursday to decide on the pact.
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