Day after alliance, Shiv Sena sends alarm bells ringing for Modi’s bid for second term as PM

A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena ironed out their differences and announced an electoral pact for both Lok Sabha and 2019 assembly polls, the latter sought to assert its supremacy in the alliance, contending that the 50-50 agreement with the BJP was not a compromise and that it is still the big brother.

In an interview with The Indian Express, when senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was asked about his party throwing its weight behind Nitin Gadkari for the Prime Ministership if the Parliament is delivered with a hung verdict, the Rajya Sabha MP said that he never backed Gadkari for the job and that it was coming from the media and RSS.

He, however, said that the BJP has several faces other than Gadkari and if the party wins 100 seats less than what it captured in 2014, it is the NDA constituents who will decide who should be made the next Prime Minister. The Shiv Sena’s remark appears to send a warning to PM Narendra Modi that the alliance may look for a consensus candidate if the BJP lands up with something between 150-170 seats.

“We have not placed any such condition (of Gadkari being PM) before the BJP. Besides, why name just Gadkari? BJP has several faces. If BJP wins 100 seats less than last time, NDA will decide who should be the PM,” he replied when asked about his columns in Saamana where he talked about the possibility of a hung Parliament and said that Gadkari is waiting for it.

When asked about his views of BJP going into polls with PM Narendra Modi as its face, the Rajya Sabha MP added, “On (Modi) being the PM face, we have Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership in Maharashtra. It has to be noted that Nitish Kumar is the face (of the NDA) in Bihar, Parkash Singh Badal in Punjab.”

The BJP and Shiv Sena recently announced an electoral pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and Maharashtra Assembly polls. As per the agreement, Sena will contest 23 seats and BJP will field candidates on the remaining 25 seats. Maharashtra sends 48 MPs to Lok Sabha. For the Assembly polls that will be held later this year, both the parties have decided to contest equal number of seats. The state Legislative Assembly has 288 chairs.

During the talks between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray, it is believed that the Sena chief pressed upon his BJP counterpart to switch to the 1995 seat-sharing formula. In 1995, the Shiv Sena had contested 169 seats and BJP 116 seats. The Sena and BJP had together formed the government under the leadership of Manohar Joshi.

“We are still the big brother in the state. The BJP had won 123 seats and Sena 63 in the 2014 Assembly polls. Despite this, the BJP has agreed for equal seat-sharing and has also agreed to give us the seats of our choice,” Raut said.

He also claimed that the BJP is positive about giving chief ministership to the Shiv Sena. The two parties have decided that a call on the chief minister will be taken after the declaration of the result. “We will see that. But, I can tell you that there will be a Shiv Sena CM,” he said when asked will the Shiv Sena will keep the CM’s chair for full five years term if the BJP-Shiv Sena returns to power.

When asked about Sena’s claim that BJP has ill-treated its allies in last four years, he said, “We have given them another chance to improve their behaviour.”
Raut also added that Shiv Sena is planning to contest the Lok Sabha polls outside Maharashtra as well. “Our party workers are working in several parts and we will contest in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu… with others,” he said.