BJP plans to increase Maharashtra Lok Sabha tally by contesting Sena seats

MUMBAI: Parliamentary polls may be in 2019 however the BJP has already started working on it and ally Shiv Sena could be the biggest casualty. Two weeks ago BJP’s joint general secretary Saudhan Singh came to Mumbai where he held discussions with top party leaders. According to those privy to the discussions, the party feels that it has a huge chance of improving its tally in the polls and one way to do it would be to look at the18 Lok Sabha seats of the Shiv Sena that it won in the 2014 polls.

What it means is that unlike last time when the BJP tied up with the Shiv Sena for the Lok Sabha polls, this time it may be planning to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its own. “We contested on 24 seats and won 23; the Shiv Sena contested on 20 and got 18. The Sena got 18 seats because they were in an alliance with us, they won because of the Narendra Modi factor.

This time most likely we are working on fighting the elections on our own and we would be concentrating on those seats,”said a BJP leader who has been privy to the discussions. Party leaders have already been told to identify strong candidates and what should worry not just the Sena but all the other parties in the state, the only eligibility criterion for the candidate should be that he should be able to guarantee a win.

Its an unsubtle hint that the party is also looking at poaching people from other parties to contest in the BJP symbol if it believes that the seat could be wrested. The party successfully did it in this year’s Mumbai elections where it gave seats to people from every other party which saw it just two seats short of the Shiv Sena’s final tally, which was the single biggest party.

BJP leaders admit that it would be a challenge that going solo would mean taking on three parties for the Lok Sabha polls, besides the Shiv Sena, there will be the Congress and NCP. “It might seem difficult but can be done, which is why we have already started working on it by beginning a process to identify the best possible candidates.”said another BJP leader.