Will the tiger pounce? Shiv Sena may corner BJP on seatshare after by-poll loss

Following BJP’s poor show in assembly by-polls in four states, the Shiv Sena is now likely to dominate seat sharing talks with the party in Maharashtra. “Now, the BJP should take a lesson from the today’s by-poll results. It should understand that the assembly elections are different from Lok Sabha elections. The Modi factor will not work during the assembly elections and BJP leaders should accept this ground reality,” said a Shiv Sena leader. [caption id=“attachment_1715547” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Referring to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks last week — that the Modi wave did not work in Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal during the Lok Sabha elections — the leader said that the BJP should recognise the significant role Sena played as a strong alliance in winning 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The state BJP, emboldened by its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, wants to fight in 135 seats while allowing Shiv Sena to contest in the same number of constituencies as well. In the 2009 Assembly polls, the BJP fought in 119 seats while Shiv Sena contested in 169. “We have made our stance clear that BJP’s demand of 135 seats can’t be accepted. Now, it is for the BJP leaders to analyse ground realities and adjust with the situation,” said a Sena functionary insisting that Sena would contest 150 assembly seats. Moreover, the Shiv Sena has also called a meeting of all senior party leaders across the state on Friday. It is said that the Sena leadership has also asked its leaders to get ready to contest the assembly elections alone. However, the BJP seems to have gone on the backfoot after Shiv Sena’s refusal to accept its demand of 135 seats and is prepared to do some adjustments.“The issues over the seat sharing arrive before every election. There is nothing new in it. We are hoping that it will be sorted out in next 2-3 days,” said a senior BJP leader. Political observers say that Sena would obviously use the by-poll results to put more pressure on the BJP. “It seems that Sena has gotten a golden opportunity to corner the BJP. The Sena will now question the Modi wave and say that by-poll results have proved their views. The Sena is now in a stronger position and the BJP will have to accept whatever Sena offers,” said Prakash Bal, a political analyst.