After KDMC and Bihar elections, BJP, Shiv Sena put discord behind, but will the bonhomie last?

In the context of a number of civic body elections in Maharashtra, the relations between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its oldest ally, the Shiv Sena, saw much tumult in past two months. But, with the close of the election season, the two parties put on an uncomfortable show of cordiality in Mumbai on Tuesday, while announcing a memorial for late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

After a round of bitter acrimony and mud-slinging, the two parties appear to have come round to the realisation that they need each other to stay in power. In the recently concluded polls to the Kalyan-Dombivli civic body near Mumbai, the Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party, but stopped short of a simple majority. In fact, the BJP greatly improved on its past performance, increasing its tally from nine to 42 seats, as pointed out by Smita Deshmukh in this Firstpost article . And it was in the backdrop of these results that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s words of gratitude for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for ‘working constructively’ on the memorial were made.

In the run-up to the elections, the two parties had hit out at each other repeatedly, harping on, among other issues, the attack on former BJP ideologue Sudheendra Kulkarni.  The rift between the two parties became starkly clear after the Sena boycotted functions in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in Mumbai last month. In a rally ahead of the polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the Sena should not question BJP’s patriotic credentials, saying that it fought for the right to hoist the Indian flag in Kashmir, as reported by The Indian Express . The Sena, on its part, had hit out at the BJP for entering alliances of convenience, questioning its ‘nikah’ with the ‘Article 370-loving’ Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

However, its own barbs on politics of convenience did not prevent it from formalising a power-sharing formula with the BJP in the KDMC, as reported by The Indian Express  after hitting out at the party repeatedly, both through rallies and editorials in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana. Before the civic polls, Sena minister Eknath Shinde had offered to resign as guardian minister of Kalyan-Dombivli. Weeks later, it emerged that two Sena legislators may fill vacant posts in a proposed cabinet expansion, as reported by PTI. In fact, several leaders from the Marathwada region are said to be lobbying for a ministerial berth, according to a report in The Times of India .

The BJP, too, on its part, appears to have been weakened by the defeat of the NDA in the Bihar elections. It is already in a position where it missed the majority mark, and needs the Sena’s support to stay afloat in Maharashtra. In this context, Uddhav’s move to depute two leaders to attend Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s oath-taking ceremony may well make the BJP uncomfortable. This is particularly so, as Sena is the only BJP ally to get an invitation from Nitish, as pointed out by Hindustan Times.

In an ironic turn of events that epitomises Sena-BJP ties in the recent past, the BJP lent its support to the Chhath Puja festival earlier this week, merely a day before Fadnavis showered praise on Bal Thackeray, while announcing a memorial of him. It is worth recalling that the Shiv Sena had vociferously opposed Chhath in Mumbai. Back in 2008, Bal Thackeray, in response to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s statements about holding the festival in Mumbai, had dared him to celebrate Chhath Puja in Chennai, as reported by India Today.

With the election season having drawn to a close for now, the saffron parties in Maharashtra appear to have rediscovered their friendship, with the Sena calling for letting bygones be bygones. However, there is no telling which way the political winds will take the blow-hot blow-cold alliance between the two parties.