Maharashtra: Did Uddhav go too far with Modi barb? BJP prepares to dump Sena

New Delhi: “Self respect” has suddenly become a key word in Maharastra politics. All the key players in the state, the BJP, Shiv Sena and the Congress are using the term. The meaning of it however has been linked to which party gets to fight what number of seats from the two respective coalitions, BJP-Sena and Congress NCP. Never before have the principal players of an election fought so bitterly and so publicly amongst themselves, especially given that polling day is just over 20 days away and only four days are left until the last day of nominations. No one, not even the senior leaders of the respective parties, can predict how the political equations and resultant poll arena may shape up in the next two days. So we don’t know whether we will ultimately see a bi-polar, triangular or quadrangular contest. The tensions between the Sena and BJP, which are increasingly moving towards a point of no return, (unless Shiv Sena relents) is more than a simple quarrel between two friendly parties over how many seats they should contest. It is also a grim reminder that in politics so called ‘ideological’ alliances are practically a marriage of convenience. [caption id=“attachment_1725505” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] BJP leaders with their Maharashtra manifesto: PTI[/caption] Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s “final offer” of 119 seats to BJP through the public address system and his recounting of the ‘personal favour’ that his father late Bal Thackeray did for Narendra Modi by strongly pitching for his continuance as Gujarat Chief Minister in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots has not gone down well with the BJP leadership. Uddhav said, “Everyone knows how terrible the situation was when the Godhra riots took place…Everyone was saying that Modi should be immediately removed from the Gujarat CM’s post. At that time, it was only Balasaheb who told LK Advani that Modi should stay on, given that he pursues the Hindutva ideology. The BJP leaders are agitated over Uddhav’s remarks, which implied that it was time for Modi to return the favour. “Shiv Sena has unfortunately got into this habit of upbraiding even the top leadership of the BJP. As an alliance partner, the least they could have done was to spare Modi. But sometimes they say there was no Modi wave, and at other times they say that Modi reached the top only because the Thackeray family stood by him. The Sena did not make life any easier for Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, but since everyone respected Bal Thackeray’s stature and understood his temperament, ties never came to breaking point. Uddhav should realise he is no Bal Thackeray and things are different in 2014. They can’t be given a free run”, a BJP leader said. A section of BJP leaders are also reportedly miffed at Uddhav’s decision to depute his son Aditya to negotiate with senior party leaders including Om Mathur. They are also pointing out how the Sena chose to back Congress candidates, Pratiba Patil and Pranab Mukherjee in the last two Presidential elections. Other middle ranking BJP leaders are venting their discomfort over what they call the Sena’s ‘big brother’ attitude. The party leadership for its part does not want to give an impression that it was they who broke the alliance but would like to put the onus on the Sena. But it is also a fact that at a meeting in Modi’s presence (technically chaired by Amit Shah) the BJP’s Central Election Committee on Sunday discussed the possibility of fighting all 288 seats and the modalities of candidate selection, if an alliance break up was to happen. This means that the BJP will not bend backwards to accommodate the Sena’s demands for 151 seats and chief minister’s position. BJP general secretary and central party in-charge of Maharastra affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy confirmed that the party considered the possibility of fighting all the seats on its own. The Sena’s insistence on claiming the chief minister’s post has turned out to be the biggest stumbling block in carrying on the alliance. The Sena is not ready to compromise on that and Uddhav had made this clear in a TV programme. Rudy said the chief minister would be from whichever party won more seats. That’s another signal from the BJP to Uddhav that he can’t assume that he will be the next chief minister. It is not without reason that BJP leaders are now constantly reminding the Sena that it couldn’t even open its account in 59 out of the 160 odd seats that it contested. “Its not about the seats. It is about how you approach the whole issue. You can’t pre-decide on critical issues and force other to accept. More so, when you know that the balance of power is tilted to the other side. Uddhav is proving that he has a non-political mind”, said a leader aligned closely with the RSS. Party leaders are already busy calculating what might happen if the 25-year-old allies decide to sever their relationship and chart out separate political paths. The BJP support base in the Lok Sabha would be lessened by 18 seats and by three in the Rajya Sabha. That may have its own implications in the long term functioning of the Modi government but the Shiv Sena would be impacted more severely. They will essentially lose control over India’s richest and most powerful municipal body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Time is running out. With 27 September being the last date for filing of nominations, all parties not just have to take a final call on their alliances in the next four days,  but also go through the most tricky process of candidate selection, hand over party symbols, look for workers in areas where they never contested and so on. The inauspicious Sradha or Pitru Paksha end on 23 September and the auspicious Navratras begin on 24 September. The parties may make a new beginning then –either rebond with their decade-old partners or go solo.