Till polls did 'em part

Uddhav announces split with decades-old ally BJP for the civic and zilla parishad elections

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray announcing his party's split from its 25-year-old ally BJP for the upcoming civic elections across Maharashtra, on Thursday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

The divorce has come through, at least for the civic and zilla parishad polls. The Shiv Sena has broken its decades-old alliance with the BJP in the BMC.

However, what remains to be seen is whether the Sena, which spit venom against the BJP on Republic Day, will pull out of the governments.

Parting ways
After Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's declaration that there would be no future alliance with the BJP, political circles are abuzz with a rumour that he might ask his Union and state ministers to quit. Opposition parties are mocking the Sena for severing ties with the BJP and yet sharing power with it.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has maintained that his party's ally should come along, however, said his government is stable and would remain so in any circumstance.
"The BJP government was stable, is stable and will be stable," he said, without elaborating.

Earlier, Fadnavis had tweeted that power wasn't BJP's ultimate goal, development was. "We will take along those who come with us and leave aside those who don't. Transformation is inevitable (in BMC and elsewhere)," the CM had said.

Fadnavis and senior BJP leaders will address a public rally today at the same venue where Uddhav announced the split. The rally is expected to be an indicator for what the BJP plans to do now.

Education minister Vinod Tawde fired a salvo at Uddhav yesterday and said the leader should have known that tenders were not placed in the Cabinet meetings for approval. "This shows how ill-informed the Sena leadership and its senior leaders are."

The nomination process of candidates started yesterday. The BJP and Sena will come out with their list by Monday. Polling will be held on February 21.

Poll play
Sources close to the CM said the BJP was not much bothered about running a minority government even if the Sena pulled out. Fadnavis had taken over in October 2014 as the CM of a minority government — he was at least 23 MLAs short of a majority needed for forming a stable government. The Sena had joined Fadnavis's cabinet a month later. Also, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP had announced support to the BJP government from outside, saying it did not want immediate elections to affect the state.

What gives the BJP confidence is that the Sena has maintained that governance should not be mixed with politics. This sentiment is what stopped the Sena from quitting the governments even when it fought against the BJP in the Assembly, local self-government and civic polls. It is another matter that the BJP and Opposition call it Sena's double standards, daring it to quit the governments.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut said yesterday that the party remained in power only because it did not want citizens and farmers to suffer. "Wait and watch," he told the media. Sena minister Subhash Desai had said on Thursday that the Sena ministers carried resignation letters in their pockets. "If the Sainiks want, we will not bat an eyelid before tendering our resignations," he had said.

Transparency on agenda
While attacking the BJP on several counts, Thackeray told his party workers on Thursday that BJP's demand for transparency was a sham. "If it is so concerned, then it should invite the Opposition to the Cabinet meetings. The BJP wants transparency only in the BMC; what about having it in the governments?" he questioned.

With the alliance broken, the transparency tirade has given the BJP an agenda. Campaigners led by Fadnavis will focus on corruption in the BMC and assure citizens of cleaning up the civic body. BJP's manifesto and publicity material will cover most of the major scams and irregularities that rocked the BMC.

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