Waiting by the telephone: Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray dials Modi, but is left on hold

Denied a complete majority in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP, 22 seats short of crossing the halfway magic number of 144, is yet to decide whether to revive its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv  Sena or go forward with the unconditional ‘outside support’ offered by Sharad Pawar’s NCP. [caption id=“attachment_1765109” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PM Narendra Modi with Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray. PTI[/caption] Late Sunday night, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray – despite denying in an earlier press conferencethat he would be the first to approach the BJP – dialed BJP chief Amit Shah and spoke to PM Narendra Modi, as well. During the conversation, Uddhav indicated that he was open to extending support under certain key conditions. According to NDTV , Uddhav told Modi  “it was time to forget about what happened in the past and move on”, something Modi agreed too, as well. While the call appears to be Uddhav’s version of the olive branch, the BJP does not appear very keen on agreeing to Uddhav’s demands, that includes a deputy CM post. This is despite all the nice things Maharashtra party chief Devendra Fadnavis said yesterday about the Sena, who he described as a “friend.” Speaking to NDTV, party sources have said that the situation right now was not the same as in 1995, where both the parties had almost the same number of seats. BJP also has the added advantage of the NCP offer of support which makes an excellent bargaining chip to push back at the Sena’s demands. While the top party leadership is willing to keep all options open and even enter into an alliance with the NCP, state party leaders have made it clear that they would not want to work witha party they have often termed as the ‘National Corrupt Party’. On Sunday evening, at the BJP’s Parliamentary Board meeting, the BJP decided that it would send two party observers - Rajnath Singh and JP Nadda - to the state to help elect the party’s leader in the state assembly, as well as the next chief minister of the state. According to Firstpost’s Vishwas Waghmode, the presence of Singh who has an excellent equation with the Sena is being read as an indication that BJP will indeed opt for Sena in the end. But that doesn’t mean the saffron party is averse to making its old ally sweat a little. It’s a hot October indeed for Uddhav Thackeray.