BJP-SENA ALLIANCE DO THE ROUNDS

After retaining the strong grip in Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Maharashtra, rumours have surfaced that both the estranged parties, BJP and Shiv Sena will again form an alliance.

Though Sena is yet to confirm the news, the BJP state leadership has not brushed aside the probability of the same. When a senior BJP leader from the state unit was asked about the buzz, he said, “I would leave the political equation in the hands of the high commands.”

“BJP managed 28 to 29 per cent vote share in the BMC Polls, 2017 while Sena bagged 26 to 27.5 per cent vote share which has been marked greater than 2012,” said sources.

Co-incidentally, both the parties were falling short of getting the magic figure of 114 seats that is needed to win the mayoral election.

According to sources, after the BMC elections, both the parties have internally started deliberations to form the alliance to extend support to Shiv Sena. But, at the same time, Congress which bagged the only 16percent of the votes is ready to join the race to support Sena externally.

“A group of Congress leaders including former chief ministers, MPS, and legislators had held a meeting to discuss the post-poll strategy of supporting Shiv Sena in the election for the city mayor to keep BJP at bay,” the sources added.

But, the numbers were given by State Electoral Officer shows that the BJP candidates won several seats by securing over 50percent of the votes, marking the party as a major player.

Following this, the Shiv Sena is in turmoil as to whom to form an alliance with. A Shiv Sena leader, Dr. Manisha Kayande, said, “For a long period, we were in an alliance with BJP and yet again BJP taking the advantage has managed to secure so many seats."

In contrary to this, the political observers feel that due to the poor performance of Congress and NCP in the state, BJP was able to manage so many votes.