The Shiv Sena’s decision not to have an electoral tie-up with its senior alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party will not have any immediate impact on the stability of the BJP-led saffron alliance Government in the State, with the Sena making it clear that it has no plans to withdraw its support to the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation.
Talking to the media persons here on Friday, Shiv Sena’s spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said, “We have no immediate plans of withdrawing our support to the BJP-led saffron alliance Government. Our pulling out of the Government at this stage will result in both political and economic instability in the State which we don't want. We will continue to be a part of this Government for some time to come”.
Though the Sena leadership has no plans to ask its Ministers to put in their papers, senior Shiv Sena leader and Minister for Environment Cabinet Ramdas Kadam indulged in posturing, when he said that he and other Sena Ministers in the State Cabinet would resign from their posts, the moment their party president Uddhav Thackeray directed them to do so.
Reacting to queries from media persons, Kadam said, “For us, power and office are not greater than our party and saffron identity. We always carry our resignations in our pockets. We will put in our papers the moment we are directed to do so by our party president”.
The Sena’s announcement that it had no plans to withdraw its support to the BJP-led Governments in the State and at the Centre came a day after Shiv Sena announced that it would go it alone in the polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), nine other municipal corporations, Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis across the State.
“Henceforth, it is the Shiv Sena that will unfurl its flag over Maharashtra. Henceforth, we will not knock the doors of any political party for an alliance. We would not like to be at the mercy of any political party. As a first step, the Sena will contest the forthcoming municipal corporation, ZP and panchayat samiti polls on its own strength,” Uddhav had said on Thursday night, while addressing his party workers’ rally at Goregaon in north Mumbai.
The Sena’s stand of not quitting the State and central government at this stage is in line with its strategy that it wants to make best of both world – of enjoying fruits of power and also enjoying the privilege of attacking the state and central governments from time to time.
The Sena has never lost an opportunity to castigate the BJP-led NDA Government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Maharashtra government on various issue of public importance, including the demonetisation. By doing so, the Sena has tried to occupy the space of Opposition even while being in the government. The objective behind this exercise is that the Sena does not want to be saddled by the strains of the anti-incumbency faced by the Modi government which has come under flak from various quarters over demonetisation.
In a related development, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Friday sought to give a new spin to the situation arising out of the Sena-BJP break-up, by hinting that his party might not be averse to supporting the BJP-led government from outside in the event of the Sena withdrawing its support to the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation.
“We are very sad to hear of this break-up after 25 years of alliance…,” Pawar said, when media persons buttonholed him for a comment.
However, when journalists persisted and asked him if he saw the NCP playing any role in the current situation, Pawar said: “I will think about it if they come to ask for help to save the government”.
It may be recalled that after the October 2014 State Assembly polls, the NCP ( with 41 MlAs) had offered “outside” support to the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation in the event of the Sena deciding not to join the BJP-led saffron alliance government in the State. However, the situation did not arise for the BJP to think in terms of accepting the NCP’s offer, since the Sena came around after initial resistance and joined the BJP-led Devendra Fadnavis government.
Meanwhile, making most of the situation arising out the Sena’s decision of not having an electoral tie-up with the BMC and other polls, Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan dared the Sena to walk out of the BJP-lede governments in the State and at the Centre.
“Mere announcement by the Sena that it would not have any electoral tie-up with the BJP would not help. Instead of merely breaking an alliance with the BJP, the Sena should go a step further and quit the Devendra Fadnavis government so as to prove that its intention behind severing its links with its 25-year-old ally," Chavan said.
“Is Shiv Sena serious or just fooling the people of MaharashtraIJ If it has the guts, it should quit the state and central governments. It is only then people will take Sena president Uddhav Thackeray seriously,” NCP Mumbai President Sachin Ahir said.