Sena loses 2 more MLAs to Rane

MUMBAI: Despite sabre-rattling by the Shiv Sena in the past two weeks, the party continues to lose its men to the Congress. Two Sena MLAs quit the party and the Maharashtra assembly on Friday to join their mentor Narayan Rane in the Congress. This has reduced the party’s strength in the house to 56, just two more than its alliance partner BJP.

The resignations have been engineered by the former Sena leader Mr Rane, who is now a revenue minister in the Congress-NCP government and are part of his strategy to keep the saffron party on tenterhooks, political sources said.

When Mr Rane had rebelled against the Sena in July ’06, the party had 63 legislators in the House. Seven of these have since moved to the NCP and four have been re-elected on Congress tickets. The Shiv Sena has only managed to retain one of the five seats.

On Friday, the last day of the monsoon session of the state assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar and Prakash Bharsakhle, both from Vidarbha, submitted their resignations to the speaker. Mr Wadettiwar represents Chimur assembly constituency, while Mr Bharsakhle is legislator from Daryapur.

When Mr Rane was expelled from the Sena he had announced that he would take away between 10 and 15 legislators. The depleting strength of the Sena is good news for the BJP. If the Sena MLA strength falls further, the BJP can stake a claim as the leader of the opposition, a position held by the Sena now.

Political observers say the BJP has seized the opportunity to dominate the Sena. This change in its posturing is significant given the history of the two-decade long alliance, which has always been dominated by the Sena.

Mr Munde announced that he will go tour the state with the Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. Such political camaraderie has earlier been exhibited only during elections. It is now clear that the BJP is convinced of the Sena’s declining fortunes and wants to play the big brother.