A decade-and-half old saffron alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena has run into turbulent weather over the latter’s commitment of support to UPA’s presidential nominee Ms Pratibha Patil.
A red-faced BJP said on Tuesday it would “review” its alliance with the Sena soon after the conclusion of the presidential election next month. Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Monday announced his party’s support for Ms Patil just when Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat filed his nomination papers for the presidential election as the nominee of the BJP-led NDA of which the Sena is an original constituent.
“We will review our ties with the Shiv Sena after the presidential election,” the senior party leader, Ms Sushma Swaraj, announced here on Tuesday. Ms Swaraj, who is the chief campaign manager for Mr Shekhawat, said the BJP was totally “disappointed” with the Sena stand though it had not entirely come as a surprise.
The party was disappointed because the Sena had arrived at its decision to back Ms Patil on the “regional considerations,” Ms Swaraj said. That the BJP was angry with its oldest ally’s move to break ranks with the NDA over the presidential election came out rather sharply from the reaction of BJP General Secretary Gopinath Munde, who also hails from Maharashtra. What the Sena had done was nothing short of a betrayal, he asserted.
‘Betrayal’
“This is a betrayal. The Shiv Sena is into a deal with the Congress,” he alleged.
In exchange for the support to Ms Patil the Sena had secured an assurance that expelled Sena leader Narayan Rane, now a senior minister in the Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra, would never be promoted to the post of chief minister, he asserted.
Mr Munde, who was deputy chief minister in the erstwhile Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, also took potshots at Sena’a contention that its support to Ms Patil was on the ground of her being a Maharashtrian. Didn’t the Sena support Mr Shekhawat for the post of Vice-President five years ago when the rival candidate was Sushil Kumar Shinde, a Maharashtrian? he asked.
Shiv Sena stung by the bitter reaction from the BJP, on Tuesday clarified that it wants to continue its alliance with the BJP notwithstanding its support to Ms Patil.
‘Friends’
Sena Working President Uddhav Thackeray said in Mumbai that he still considers the BJP “friends” and would not join issue with the BJP Maharashtra President Nitin Gadkari or the national General Secretary Gopinath Munde. Mr Gadkari described as “unfortunate” the Sena’s decision to back Ms Patil.
Mr Uddhav Thackeray said, “we still consider the BJP a friend and see no reason why the alliance should break over this matter.”
However, he said he too can reply “in the same language” and asked the BJP leaders not to teach Hindutva to the party. “There is no need to teach us Hindutva,” he said.
Mr Uddhav emphasised that the Sena’s support to Ms Pratil was only due to her being a Maharashtrian and the decision should not be construed as the party's support to the Congress. He also pointed out that in the past, a BJP ally like the Akali Dal had supported the candidature of late Gyani Zail Singh for the post of the president.