Assembly poll results to impact BJP, Shiv Sena ties

Mumbai: The results of Assembly polls in five states is likely to have a huge impact on the ties of BJP and Shiv Sena, the ruling parties in the state government. Buoyed by the setback suffered by the BJP in these polls, the Sena is expected to ask for a bigger pie in the seat sharing talks with its ally in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. It is likely to put the BJP in a catch 22 situation.

Despite being in power together, the relations between the BJP and Sena have always remained frosty, with both parties at crossroads on several issues. While the Sena has already announced that they would contest future elections independently, the recent hobnobbing of top leaders of both the parties had indicated that ties are likely to be back to normal ahead of elections.

However, political analysts feel that BJP's defeat in assembly polls of five states, which was considered as the semi-final for the Lok Sabha polls, will now embolden the Sena to bargain hard in the seat sharing talks, even asking for a 50:50 share in seats, for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls.

A senior BJP leader admitted that the setback suffered by his party will surely have a bearing on the upcoming polls. “We were always confident of making an alliance with the Shiv Sena. It was just a matter of finalising the number of seats both parties would agree upon to contest. But after the assembly results the process has become more cumbersome as Sena is likely to demand more seats than our expectations. This will create difficulties in the talks,” he said.

A senior Sena leader said only party chief Uddhav Thackeray can take the decision whether to go with the BJP in the forthcoming elections. “But the assembly results have shown that there is a lot of resentment among people about the BJP government,” he said.