Shiv Sena, BJP start bickering over CM's post, seat-sharing

Months before the state Assembly polls alliance partners Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party have begun bickering over sharing the Chief Ministerrsquos tenure and the seats that each would contest in the elections this yearSome BJP leaders have said that it would be a BJP CM without any sharing of tenure since no such agreement had been reached between the parties that had forged an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and had decided to keep those ties intact in the Assembly polls as well In 2014 the two parties had fought the Assembly polls independently following disagreement over seatsharingHowever members of the Sena said that apart from sharing Assembly seats equally in the October polls the Sena had been promised that the two partners would share the CMs tenure of five years with each getting two and a half years each in the high officeSources said that they had foreseen a crisis unfolding ndash just like in 2014 when the two parties bid goodbye to each other just ahead of the Assembly polls The leaders insist that the CM should be from the BJP and not Sena in any case They feel that the Sena is second to the BJP in all aspects and it shouldnrsquot be allowed any leverage that would harm BJPrsquos dream run in the stateBJPs CMSources said former BJP president Amit Shah has told party men that they would have a BJP member as CM and incumbent Devendra Fadnavis is being projected as the partys CM candidate for the next term as well Fadnavis hasnrsquot gone on record over this yetIn an official statement on Monday finance minister Sudhir Mungntiwar said The next CM will be from the BJP There is no discontent in the BJPShiv Sena alliance over this We will win more than 220 Assembly seatsMungantiwar said Fadnavis had declared on February 19 the day alliance for Lok Sabha was finalised that both the parties would share responsibilities and the seatsRevenue minister Chandrakant Patil had last week said that the BJP and Sena will contest 135 seats each and leave the remaining 18 for their alliesCousin respondsA firm statement that confronted the BJP came from a Sena youth leader Varun Sardesai who is Youth Sena president Aaditya Thackerayrsquos cousin Sardesai twitted last night that the people who were part of negotiations between Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and BJP president Amit Shah shouldnrsquot spoil the alliance for their personal gains ldquoShiv Sena prez Uddhavsaheb and BJP prez Amit ji have decided that Maha CM post will be 25 years eachrdquo he said in his tweet in an apparent snub to Mungantiwar who has been in the reckoning for CMrsquos postConsidering his proximity with Senarsquos first family Sardesai seems to have approval of the top leadership for taking on BJP The youth leader is also pursuing Aaditya to take up electoral politics in the Assembly polls If Aaditya agrees he would be the first in the Thackeray family to contest a poll for electing lawmakers He would contest from a tailormade segment and win as well putting himself in the contention for the CMrsquos post Sources said Aaditya might even give a shot at Deputy CMrsquos post if the BJP gets first the CMrsquos post in rotation and hands CMrsquos office to Sena for the remaining termUddhav to decideApparently Aaditya has been working on a suitable Assembly constituency in Mumbai On Monday he convened a meeting of youth works of Worli and Mahim the two Sena strongholds He told them that his father would decide on his Assembly election candidature in consultation with partyrsquos senior leadersThe senior leaders including the sitting MLAs from Mahim and Worli who his father should be conferring with was also in the meeting Senior minister and Sena ideologue Subhas Desai was present to support the party chiefrsquos son tooState Cabinet reshuffle on June 14Unconfirmed reports said that CM Devendra Fadnavis would expand and reshuffle his cabinet on June 14 The exercise has been longawaited for many in the BJP and Sena and if successful it would give about 80 days for them to serve before the model code of conduct is imposed BJP is expected to induct six ministers and Sena one State finance minister Mungantiwar did not confirm nor denied the possibility ldquoYou will get a message from the publicity and information department once the time and date are confirmed for swearingin ceremonyrdquo he said228No of Assembly seats63No of seats Sena won in 2014122No of seats BJP won in 2014145No of seats required for majority in the AssemblyCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates