On Saturday, Maharashtra BJP Chief Chandrakant Patil made it clear that his party in the future has no intentions to fight elections in alliance with those who had betrayed the BJP in the past. Patil made a distinct reference to the Shiv Sena, which backed off a decade-old partnership while forming a government in the state by shaking hands with the NCP and Congress in 2019.
While addressing party workers at Amravation Wednesday, he further said, “We will not ally with those who got the Chief Minister’s post with 56 seats in the Assembly (a reference to the Sena) or a party which got the deputy CM’s post (NCP) with 54 seats, or with those who got the Revenue Minister’s post with 44 seats (Congress),” Patil maintained.
“It’s high time the BJP got rid of crutches and fought the polls alone. In Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the BJP contests alone and wins. They do not have any alliance partners there. At present, Republican Party of India (Athavale), Shiv Sangram, Ryat Kranti and Rashtriya Samaj Party are with BJP and we will continue our alliance only with these parties”. Patil explained that the BJP has been receiving a favourable response from the people of the state and that accordingly, there was no need to form an alliance with people who would later switch sides.
The veteran BJP leader also came down heavily on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for constantly discoursing about the third wave of COVID.
Political Betrayal
2014 saw the return of a BJP-Sena regime after a love-hate war and a gap of 15 years. While BJP and Shiv Sena were comfortably placed in the government, former allies Congress and NCP were fighting as the main opposition space in the state. Despite the alliance, the BJP was intensely criticised on the vague ground by the Shiv Sena. Yet again, in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had secured a sufficient majority. However, they were unable to form the government as the BJP refused to accept Shiv Sena’s demand for rotational CM. Uddhav Thackeray claimed that the BJP leadership made Shiv Sena a false promise in this regard, a statement which was subsequently denied by Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis. Thereafter, Shiv Sena backstabbed the BJP and joined hands with the opposition: NCP and Congress to form the MVA government on November 28, 2019, under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray.
Revenge Politics: Current clash
Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray slowly but surely had been destroying the legacy of his father Bala Saheb Thackeray that was built on the ethos of nationalism, and sub-nationalism of the common ‘Marathi Maanus’. Ever since Uddhav joined forces with Congress and NCP in an alliance of compromised moral values and tarnished ideologies, he has taken decisions that one would have previously conceived of. Recently, Uddhav stirred another controversy by using the dominant police machinery of the state to arrest Union Minister Narayan Rane. Rana was detained for his remarks against Uddhav Thackeray. In the statement, Rane said he wished to slap chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for forgetting the number of years since Indian independence.
Read more: By arresting Narayan Rane, Uddhav Thackeray has kissed the Maratha vote goodbye
The fight between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to intensify in the upcoming elections. Moreover, based on the history of Shiv Sena’s revenge tactics and betrayal to the BJP; Chief Chandrakant Patil clears the air regarding no alliance or coalition with Shiv Sena in the near future.