Sena takes hard line in BJP talks

AMONG DEMANDS IS ASSURANCE ON ‘EQUAL SHARING OF POWER’

The Shiv Sena yesterday said it now had the “remote control of power” in Maharashtra despite getting fewer seats in the 2019 assembly polls when compared to 2014.

During the first Sena-BJP government in the state, between 1995 to 1999, the term remote control was regularly used for and by the late party patriarch Bal Thackeray to explain the chain of command in the dispensation.

The two allies are in the midst of tough negotiations after the BJP returned a lessthan-impressive performance in the assembly polls, results of which were declared on October 24, with 105 seats against 122 in 2014.

Among Sena’s demands is a written assurance from the BJP on “equal sharing of power”, which could possibly include equal division of the chief ministerial tenure.

In his column ‘Rokhthok’ in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Sanjay Raut said, “The Sena won less seats this time, 56 compared to 63 in 2014, but it has the remote control of power”.

“The dream that the Shiv

Sena will drag itself behind the BJP is busted [after poll results]. A cartoon showing a tiger [Sena’s identity] holding a lotus (BJP’s symbol) in its hand tells a lot about the current scenario. Not taking anyone for granted is the message,” he said in his column.

Raut is the executive editor of Saamana and also the chief whip of the party in Parliament. The column hinted that the Sena would stay firm on its demands before government formation with the BJP.