The ice between the two erstwhile saffron alliance partners the BJP and Shiv Sena has been broken with the latter making the first move towards mending fences and expressing its readiness to be part of the new BJP-led Government in Maharashtra.
Post-Diwali break, from Monday onwards, formal talks will begin between the BJP and Shiv Sena over the proposed power-sharing arrangement between them in Maharashtra.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all NDA MPs - including those from the Shiv Sena - over tea in New Delhi on Sunday which is being seen as an exercise to bring about a greater cohesiveness among the alliance partners as also to round off the rough edges developed during the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls.
After days of continued speculation in the media on whether the Shiv Sena will join the BJP-led Government in the State, the Sena announced on Wednesday that it would begin formal talks with the BJP after the Diwali festivities are over, from Monday onwards.
The Sena’s announcement came after the return of party president Uddhav Thackeray’s two aides and senior leaders Subhash Desai and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai from New Delhi, where they had gone on Tuesday to meet BJP observers Home Minister Rajnath Singh and party’s general secretary-in-charge of Maharashtra JP Nadda.
Though they did not meet Rajnath and Nadda, the two Sena emissaries Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum, and Chandrakant Patil, a Maharashtra-born BJP MP from Navsari in Gujarat on Tuesday evening prepared the ground for the start of formal deliberations over the proposed power-sharing arrangement between them from October 27 onwards.
On their return, the two Sena leaders met the Sena president at his residence and briefed him about their meeting with BJP leaders in the National Capital.
After their meeting with Uddhav, Subhash Desai said: “Though we could not meet Rajnath Singh, we met other BJP leaders. We (the Sena and BJP) have decided that we will hold formal talks (over the sharing of power in Maharashtra) from Monday onwards. We have so far not given any proposal to the BJP.”
Queried if the Sena president would go to New Delhi to meet Rajnath Sing, Desai said: “It will be decided during the talks on Monday as to whether Uddhav will be going to New Delhi to meet the BJP’s central leaders or the BJP leaders will come to Mumbai to meet the Sena president.”
Sources said that during the talks, Sena would insist that the two saffron alliance partners, follow the Government formation formula of 1995 when the Shiv Sena-BJP combine formed its first-ever Government.
In 1995, the Sena had contested 169 seats, and won 73 seats, while the BJP had contested 116 seats and won 65 seats.
While Sena’s Manohar Joshi was nominated as the Chief Minister, BJP’s Gopinath Munde was chosen as the Deputy Chief Minister.
As far as the division of portfolios is concerned, portfolios like Urban Development, Industry, Revenue, Transport, Forests and Environment, Housing went to the Sena, the BJP was given the crucial Home portfolio along with Energy, Finance, Public Works, Irrigation, Tourism, Food and Civil Supplies, Rural Development and Public Health.
The Congress-NCP alliance Government, which came to power subsequently in October, 1999 and continued for three consecutive terms, also adopted a near similar power-sharing arrangement.
“Though we are not in the same position as we were in 1995, we have won 63 seats, which is not a small number. We would like the BJP to treat us honourably as far as portfolio sharing is concerned. We accept that the roles have reversed since the BJP has got more seats than us. But, in 1995, the BJP was in our position then. That’s why we expect the BJP to give us a honourable deal,” a senior Sena leader said.
If anything, the Sena wants the Deputy Chief Minister’s post and good number of ministries, including the plum ones.
On its part, the BJP - which is now the senior partner in the alliance - will strike a hard bargain with the Sena in the talks over the power-sharing arrangements. Sources in the BJP said that since it had won as many as 122 seats as against 62 seats won by the Shiv Sena, it would offer 2:1 ratio of ministerial berths to the Sena and would insist on keeping the plum portfolios like the Home, Urban Development Ministry and Finance.
Meanwhile, ahead of the start of the power-sharing talks between the Sena and BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to smooth the strained relations between the BJP and its allies when he meets all NDA MPs - including those from the Shiv Sena - over tea in New Delhi on Sunday.
This will be the first interaction of all NDA MPs with the PM after the alliance stormed to power at the Centre in May. Modi is also scheduled to meet mediapersons at a Diwali Milan function on October 25. The NDA has faced turbulence after the exit of JD(U) before the general elections and recently when the BJP-Shiv Sena broke their 25-year-old alliance in Maharashtra over allocation of seats in Assembly polls. Sena, however, remains part of the NDA with no formal objection from the BJP.
The streamlining of ties with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), another key NDA partner, which campaigned for INlD, the main rival of the BJP in Haryana, would also be on Modi’s radar.
Sharing a cup of tea with Modi would provide a suitable opportunity to all NDA MPs to exchange their views and make a sense of political undercurrents after about four-months of Modi-governance at the Centre.
Shiv Sena MPs, including Union Minister Anant Geete, will be present during the meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence.
“The Prime Minister has invited all NDA MPs at his residence for high tea on October 26 evening. As Shiv Sena is a part of NDA, all its MPs, including myself, will be present at the meeting,” Geete said.
Meanwhile, Nagpur-East MlA Krishna Khopde on Wednesday offered to quit and vacate his seat to pave the way for his mentor Nitin Gadkari, in the wake of a hectic clamour among Gadkari’s supporters that he be sent back to Maharashtra to take over reins of the State as the next Chief Minister.
Khopde, a second term MlA, said he was willing to resign for Gadkari from his constituency.