Sena togo solo in 2019 polls
DECISIONS Party will contest Lok Sabha and state assembly polls alone, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray elevated to ‘neta’
The Sena has been saying a lot of things, I don’t want to comment on it. As of now, we are in the government. I am sure the BJP and Sena together will complete its full term. And whatever it takes, we will get the next term as well.
DEVENDRA FADNAVIS, Maharashtra chief minister
MUMBAI: The Shiv Se na on Tuesday announced it will contest the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, to be held in 2019, without its current ally, the B ha ra ti ya Jan at a Party( B JP ). There solution togo solo in the polls was passed on Tuesday in the party’s national executive meeting held in the city. The decision came amid increasingly choppy relations between the saffron alliance. However, the Sena is not pulling out of the B JP-led government sat the Centre and in Maharashtra yet.
Tuesday’s meeting also saw the elevation of Yuva Sena chief A ad it ya Thackeray to a Shiv Se na ‘neta’. The party hierarchy has Se na chief Uddh av Thackeray at the top, followed by ‘netas’ (leaders), then ‘upnetas’ (deputy leaders). This means Aaditya will now be a part of the Sena’s core leadership team, rubbing shoulders with veterans such as former chief minister Manohar Joshi and state industries minister Subhash Desai.
Uddhav also said going forward, the Se na will contest elections in all the states, and it would fight on the Hindutva agenda. “We will fight elections in every state for the cause of Hindutva, I vow today ,” said Thackeray, who was re-elected party chief.
If the Sena pulls out now, the BJP-led government in Maharashtra will be in a minority. On theother hand,the Sena’s rule in Mumbai civic body will be in jeopardy because it does not have a clear majority in the civic house and the B JP has extended outside support to the party.
BJP reacted cautiously, even though its leaders made it clear they were more than willing to take the Sena’s challenge head on. Chief minister Dev end ra Fadnavis, who is in Davos for the World Economic Forum, on a conciliatory note said he was confident the B JP-Se na government would complete its full term.
“The Sen a has been saying a lot of things, I don’ t want to comment on it. As of now, we are in the government. I am sure the BJP and the Sena together will complete its full term. And whatever it takes, we will get the next term as well,’’ said Fadnavis, in a statement to ANI.
The resolution to end the alliance was moved by senior Sena leader and Raj ya S ab ha MP Sanjay Raut, who said that the party had“compromised for up holding the alliance” with the BJP. Raut termed the last three years of the alliance with the B JP as“dem orali sing ”.
The political resolution said the Sena will win at least 25 of the 48 Lo kS ab has eat sin Maharashtra and win a majority in the 288member Maharashtra Assembly on its merit.
The Se na, which shares a blow hot-blow cold relationship with the BJP, has threatened to quit the Maharashtra government earlier. Recently, Aaditya had announced that the Sena would quit the BJP-led Maharashtra government in a year’s time.
Meanwhile, Aaditya is expected to take an active role in the party’ s decision-making from here on .The 27-year-old has initiated several programmes for Mumbai, and has taken on the BJP politically on variety of issues.