Shiv Sena accepts junior partner status
The alliance partners are expected to announce the names of their candidates as per the seats allocated to them by their dominant partners.
Mumbai: It’s now official that the Shiv Sena will be the junior partner in the saffron alliance in the state Just two days before the last day of filing nominations, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sena Tuesday revealed their seat-sharing formula, according to which, the former will contest 164 seats and the latter 124 seats.
This is the first time in the alliance that the Sena will be contesting fewer seats than the BJP.
Furthermore, the BJP will allot 18 seats from its quota to its smaller allies, including the Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India-Athawale (RPI-A), Mahadeo Jankar-led Rashtriya Samaj Pa-ksha (RSP), Vinayak Mete-led Shivsangram and Sa-dabhau Khot-led Rayat Kranti Sanghatana. The alliance partners are expected to announce the names of their candidates as per the seats allocated to them by their dominant partners.
In a bid to appease Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has agreed to give two Legislative Council seats in the biennial elections due next year. “Aamche Tharale Aahe” (it has been decided amongst us) was the common refrain of Mr Fadn-avis and Mr Thackeray whenever they were asked about the alliance and seat- sharing formula.
Now that the formula has been announced, it’s clear that the Sena has finally agreed to play second fiddle to the BJP despite insi-sting that it will not settle for less than the 50:50 formula under any circumstance.
In fact, Mr Fadnavis has gone out of the way to accommodate the Sena. So much so that the BJP is bound to face the wrath of its cadres for accepting a relatively small number of seats in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik.
The 288-member state Assembly will go to polls on October 21, while the results will be declared on October 24.
Mr Thackeray’s son Aad-itya has announced his candidature from Worli. He will be the first member of the Thackeray family, which holds the reins of the party, to contest a poll. The BJP and the Sena had contested the 2014 Asse-mbly polls separately, but had later come together.