Sena may give hints on ties with BJP at Dusshera rally

When Uddhav Thackeray takes the podium on the auspicious occasion of Dusshera at the historic Shivaji Park at Dadar in Mumbai, political leaders across parties would prefer to be glued to TV seats, as to what Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray says. In fact, this is the last annual Dusshera rally for the Shiv Sena - ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

More than the Congress and the NCP, its Sena's alliance partner, the BJP, would be curious to know, as to what Uddhav says vis-à-vis continuation of the alliance with them.

For Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who would complete four years in office this month, it is a major task to keep Uddhav and his team in good humour.

Despite being part of the BJP-led NDA dispensation at the Centre and having an alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra, the Sena has not lost any opportunity in the last four years and have repeatedly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Fadnavis on multiple issues.

Whether it is through statements, made by Uddhav himself or through the editorials in Saamana, the Marathi mouthpiece and Dophar ka Saamana, its Hindi tabloid version, the Sena has kept its pressure on the BJP.

The Dusshera rally is very significant as Uddhav is likely to announce the date when he would visit Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and speak on the Ram temple issue. Already there are posters showing Uddhav with clenched fist and a tag line - 'Hindutvachi Vajramooth', which translates to the iron fist of Hindutva.

Recently, Ram Janmabhoomi Trust chief Janmejay Sharanji Maharaj met Uddhav in Mumbai and later Shiv Sena pointsman and close aide of the Thackeray family, Sanjay Raut, visited Ayodhya. "Ram mandir banao, nahi to Ram naam satya hai," read the headline of a Saamana editorial warning of what could be in store.

As regards alliance, the Shiv Sena has kept the BJP guessing. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Sena and the BJP had a pre-poll alliance, but it broke ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls later that year. Incidentally, the Democratic Front - the Congress-NCP alliance, that ran Maharashtra for 15 years broke.

In the state polls, the four major parties checked their strength individually. The Sena later agreed to be part of the BJP-led government.

Meanwhile, as the relations continued to worsen and there were constant war of words, Uddhav announced that there would not be any alliance in future.