In a last-ditch effort to save its 25-year-long alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the BJP Central Election Committee on Sunday night deferred the announcement of candidates for the State Assembly polls while the party’s Parliamentary Board discussed the response to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s ultimatum to the BJP to take 119 seats or leave.
The CEC discussed the majority of the 288 Assembly seats, but withheld announcement of the candidates, leaving a window of opportunity open for a last bit of bargaining. State BJP leaders, however, are reported to have impressed upon party president Amit Shah that the party “should not bargain with its respect” by yielding to an “unreasonable” offer made by the Sena.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the meetings of the CEC and the Parliamentary Board which were attended by Shah and all members, most of them being senior Central Ministers.Shah and Modi had a ten minute one-on-one meeting in between the two meetings which together lasted for five hours.
According to sources, all attempts would still be made to defrost the ties and the BJP will convey the views of the Parliamentary Board to the Sena on Monday. “The ball is in the Sena’s court,” they said.
Earlier, the Sena stumped the BJP once again through its “final offer” of 119 seats out of the total 288 seats and in the process threatened the very existence of the 25-year-old saffron alliance. A day after the BJP rejected the Sena’s offer of 126 seats for the BJP and three other constituents in the Maha-Yuti, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray made what he called its “final offer” of 119 seats out of the total 288 seats to its long-term saffron alliance partner.
Addressing a convention of his party’s elected representatives from all over Maharashtra, Thackeray said: “I am making a final offer of 119 seats. Under this seat-sharing formula, the Shiv Sena will contest 151 seats, while the BJP will get 119 seats. We will give the remaining 18 seats to the four other constituents in the Maha-Yuti.
“With this, I am making it clear to the BJP that please do not tell me to increase your share of seats. I am requesting the BJP not to fool the people of Maharashtra. Whatever offer the Sena is making to the BJP is in the interest of Maharashtra,” the Sena president said.
However, the BJP swiftly rejected the Sena’s final offer by saying that there was nothing new in it. “We are not happy with the Sena’s proposal. We have been contesting 117 Assembly seats ever since we formed an alliance in 1989. Since the 2009 polls, we are contesting 119 seats. Our proposal to the Sena is that there is a need to re-distribute 59 such seats which the Sena had never won before and 19 such seats that the BJP had not won any time in the past. It was in this context that we had asked the Sena to give us 135 seats. However, in the meeting our State party president Devendra Fadnavis had with Uddhav Thackeray last night, we made it clear to the Sena that we are ready to accept 130 seats as against our earlier demand for 135 seats,” senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse said in New Delhi.
Addressing a Press conference jointly with leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative Council Vinod Tawde, in the national Capital where the BJP’s Parliamentary Board met to finalise the party’s candidates for the October 15 Assembly polls, Khadse said: “It is the responsibility of the saffron alliance partners to keep the alliance intact. One change that has taken place now in our alliance is that it has become Maha-Yuti (grand alliance) with four parties joining us. Because of this change in scenario, we have to readjust the seat-sharing process. The fact remains that both of us do not want to snap our ties.”
Given the firm stand that Uddhav has taken while making the Sena’s “final offer” to the BJP, it is quite unlikely that he will come around to accepting the saffron ally’s stand. This in essence means that the Sena’s “final offer” to the BJP is nothing but a “take it or leave it” offer.
“If the BJP leadership refuses to accept our final offer, then we will have no alternative but to go it alone in the polls. We have made preparations to contest all the 288 seats on our own strength,” a senior Sena leader close to Uddhav said.
Earlier, in his remarks prefacing the “final offer” that he made to the BJP at the party’s convention held at Rangasharada auditorium, Uddhav said: “Whenever I give up even one seat from the Sena’s quota to the ally, I keep thinking that I am hurting my own cadres. What can I doIJ Others will accuse me of having softened my stand or bowing before the ally. All I can say is that the people in the State are looking forward to elections. The people want to see the Maha-Yuti in power in the State. Once we are in power, we will address all your issues as well as those of the people of the State”
“Yesterday, Fadnavis requested me to take the initiative to ensure that the saffron alliance stays. Tell me what can I doIJ He told me that the BJP would contest 130, while the Sena could contest 140 seats. I made it clear to Fadnavis that the decision is not in my hand. I cannot betray the Shiv Sainiks who love me,” Uddhav said.
Uddhav went on to say: “We are equally responsible for keep the alliance going. That’s why the Sena initially told the BJP that let us give nine seats to each of our four alliance partners in the Maha-Yuti. That meant that our final tally would come down from 169 to 160 and the BJP’s tally from 119 to 110. After that, the BJP said that it wanted our seats. I made it clear to them that the Sena cannot spare its seats to the BJP. That’s because the seats have long been shared.
“I also told the BJP that I can reduce the Sena’s share to 155, which meant showing my readiness to give up 14 of my seats. But the BJP was not ready and it did not want anything less than 130. I told the BJP that I will go one step forward. I am prepared to lose a few more seats. This morning, some central BJP leaders called me from Delhi and told me ‘Uddhavji kuch karo’ I told them, ‘apne logon ko sambhalo’. They told me, ‘Yuti rahi toh 220 seats bhi paar kar jayange.’ I told them for winning 220 seats I cannot spare five to six seats.
“That’s why I am making a final offer to them. let’s give nine seats each to the alliance partners. I will bear your loss of nine seats arising out of your sparing nine seats for the alliance partners. But, whatever distribution takes place, the Shiv Sena will do it in its own way. If needs be, we can exchange some seats later.”