Shrill demand in BJP: ?Break ties with Shiv Sena, fight polls alone?

With assembly elections just a few months away, demands in the Maharashtra BJP to break the alliance with Shiv Sena and go it alone are growing louder by the day.

At the BJP state council meeting here on Thursday, several speakers mounted pressure on the state leadership to take an immediate decision to break the decades-old alliance with Sena to ensure electoral expansion of the party by contesting all 288 seats in the October elections.

The top leadership of the BJP, which listened to the demands of the workers, desisted from committing, but indicated that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was an open-ended affair.

Maharashtra BJP chief Devendra Fadnavis asked the 5,000 delegates assembled at the Andheri Sports Club to start setting up booths in all 288 assembly constituencies. ?We will appoint 150 full-time workers who would focus on two assembly seats each for the next three months as part of consolidating the organisation,? he said.

This is the first time the BJP has decided to spread itself in all 288 seats. The two-decade-old formula was Sena 171 seats and BJP 117 seats. Now the BJP has indicated it was not acceptable. The plans unveiled by Fadnavis was a pointer to the marked political shift in the party?s strategy for the past 25 years.

In this backdrop, a massive hoarding conveyed a strong political message: ?Rashtra Jinkley Apan; Maharashtra Hi Jinku Apanach (We have conquered nation. Now, we will conquer Maharashtra).?

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, ?The thunderous applause to the BJP contesting 288 seats has almost livened up the conclave. We have to understand why such a demand has arisen. The party has worked and struggled long to arrive at this stage. It certainly needs further expansion, which cannot be wished away. The state leaders should consider the sentiments and take a decision.?

Senior BJP leader Madhu Chavan was the first to demand that the party should announce that it would contest all the seats. Whether it was Bala Begde, Sanjay Kinikar or Varsha Bhosale, they all minced no words to complain against the Shiv Sena?s ?highhandedness? in the alliance.

Almost a dozen delegates, including general secretaries, MLAs, MPs, spoke about how the alliance with Sena has dwarfed the political growth of the BJP in Maharashtra. Begde said, ?Let us not suffocate the aspirations of our workers who want growth. How long can we confine ourselves to just 119 seats out of 288 seats.?

As leader after leader spoke along the same lines, Fadnavis at one point said, ?I cannot allow everybody to speak due to time constraints. But overall sentiments of the party will be considered and factored in the decision-making ahead.? In an attempt to moderate the aggression, he said, ?I can understand your concerns. But breaking the 25-year-old alliance in a day is not justifiable. Our alliance with Sena was based on ideology. They have stood with us in good and bad days. But I promise your concerns will be addressed properly.?