Ties in saffron camp reach breaking point

MUMBAI: Chances of a patch-up between the BJP and the Shiv Sena appeared thin on Thursday with the Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari reiterating his party’s claim over the Chimur Assembly seat, the bone of contention for the spat between the saffron partners.

Mr Gadkari, who has personally been blamed by the Sena mouthpiece Saamna for pushing the alliance to the brink of a break-up, told journalists in Nagpur that the alliance was formed on the ideology of Hindutva and “it had worked well for the last 22 years”.

“Still, if the Shiv Sena wants to sever ties with us, it is free to do so. We will not break the alliance from our side,” Mr Gadkari said. In Mumbai, senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi said the BJP-Sena alliance is intact and news reports claiming that the alliance had broken off were “wrong”. Mr Joshi, however, maintained that the Sena leadership wanted the BJP to concede the Chimur seat.

Mr Gadkari, a close associate of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, said he would go only if the Sena patriarch calls him for talks, ruling out discussion with any other leader including the Sena working president Uddhav.

“I have great respect for Mr Thackeray,” he said. He, however, virtually ruled out any reconciliation efforts from the BJP. “We are not ready to give up our claim on the Chimur seat. Only the BJP is in a position to defeat the Congress in Chimur,” Mr Gadkari said. Asked the reason for this stand, Mr Gadkari said the BJP knew its position in Chimur well.

“The Chimur seat has fallen vacant after Shiv Sena legislator Vijay Wadettiwar quit the seat and joined the Congress. He has taken away with him 90% of the Sena support base. As against this, the BJP has its legislators in all neighbourhood Assembly constituencies and is very strong in Chimur as well,” Mr Gadkari said.

The BJP leader also pointed out that he had personally informed the Sena leadership about BJP’s intention to contest for this seat and the plan was endorsed by the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who is believed to be the architect of the BJP-Sena alliance.

The Sena also needs BJP’s support for the by-poll to the Daryapur Assembly seat in Vidarbha which has fallen vacant after Sena legislator Prakash Bharsakle joined the Congress. Mr Gadkari said the BJP would support the Sena candidate in Daryapur only if the latter gave up its claim on Chimur.

Political observers see a larger BJP gameplan in its insistence on the Chimur seat in Chandrapur district of Vidarbha. “The BJP is not merely interested in Chimur. It is looking at a larger picture of elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and zilla parishads six months later and also next the Assembly elections in ‘09.

The BJP wants to extract more seats from the Sena in their seat-sharing arrangement for BMC and Assembly polls and Chimur is a classic win-win case for the BJP to get into the driver’s seat by reminding the Sena that it has become weak due to a string of rebellions,” sources said.

A senior BJP leader said the party had anticipated the possibility of the alliance being severed when it started insisting on Chimur. “All these years, the Sena has been dictating terms to BJP in Maharashtra and our image of a national party has taken a hit.

But the Sena is hardly a force to reckon with today and we would not like to be dictated anymore. Our grassroots tell us that we are prepared to fight all elections on our own. In fact, the Sena needs us more than we do,” he said.

Political arithmetic is also important in the BJP-Sena face-off. In the 288-member Maharashtra legislative Assembly, the Sena has 56 legislators closely followed by the BJP at 54.

If the BJP gets to contest for the Chimur seat and wins it as well, Sena would be only a notch above the BJP. If more Sena legislators quit the party, Sena would lose the status of the prime opposition party to the BJP, and BJP would also get the post of the leader of the opposition.