Favour alliance with Sena: BJP
Maharashtra BJP on Saturday said it was in favour of an alliance with Shiv Sena for the forthcoming local bodies and civic polls and had authorised its district units to take a call on the issue.
Maharashtra BJP chief Raosaheb Danve said Shiv Sena was his party's "natural ally".
"We have contested all elections barring the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls together. Even for the Kalyan Dombivali civic polls, our alliance did not materialise due to disagreements over seat sharing. We are in favour of an alliance with Shiv Sena. We have asked the district units to take a call and hold discussions with the Sena regarding seat adjustments accordingly," Danve told reporters here.
"We want an honourable pact to proceed with the talks. Shiv Sena should give us their proposal and we will get back to them after discussing the same with our leaders," he said.
Danve claimed that people's sentiments were in favour of BJP and he was confident that his party will emerge as the single largest one in the local bodies polls which are scheduled to be held in four phases from next month.
Asked about BJP leaders like Ashish Shelar and Kirit Somaiya demanding that the party should go solo in the ensuing polls, Danve said he was airing the party's official line as the state unit head.
When asked about Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's comments against BJP in Goa, Danve said, "Shiv Sena was an independent political party and it is free to contest elections anywhere in the country".