19 August,2017 06:01 PM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
If the BJP says something, can the Shiv Sena be far behind? Especially when it appears almost certain that the two will go their separate ways in the next Lok Sabha (LS) polls
Uddhav Thackeray also took potshots at BJP over the loan waiver for farmers
If the BJP says something, can the Shiv Sena be far behind? Especially when it appears almost certain that the two will go their separate ways in the next Lok Sabha (LS) polls.
A day after BJP president Amit Shah unveiled a plan to win 350 LS seats in 2019, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray yesterday said, "The Shiv Sena too is preparing to double its seats, not only in Lok Sabha, but also in the Assembly."
Solo is the only way
The only way to double the numbers would be to fight LS polls independently in Maharashtra, the second largest state after Uttar Pradesh, in terms of Lok Sabha strength. The Sena stands no chance of winning any LS seat outside Maharashtra.
During the Modi wave in 2014, the Sena had contested 20 seats and won 18, while the BJP contested 24 and won 23.
Five months after the LS polls, the Sena and BJP parted ways in the Assembly polls, in which the latter emerged as the single largest party (122), and the Sena won 63 seats.
The two have been fighting over several issues ever since, despite being together in the government.
BJP poaching leaders
Primarily, the BJP thinks that it should be able to erase the Sena in places it had not contested LS polls earlier.
In fact, the party has started wooing prospective candidates from the Sena, Congress and NCP for 2019. Sources said a top Congress leader, who lost in the 2014 LS polls in the northern suburbs in Mumbai, has been offered a seat from where Sena's Gajanan Kirtikar represents the party in Parliament.
The Sena is well aware of BJP's plans, said a senior Sena leader. "We will have to be ready to contest all 48 LS seats alone or with non-BJP allies," he said.
Taking a dig at BJP
Little wonder then, that Thackeray chose to attack the BJP government after his party's executive meeting at Dadar's Sena Bhavan on Friday, taking potshots at his ally over the agrarian crisis and the subsequent loan waiver.
"There is a possibility of this government telling us that a number of people exceeding the number of people living the state have benefited from the loan waiver. I want this government to place on record the names and addresses of the farmers who avail the scheme in the Assembly," he said.
