Shiv Sena leader: Won't be caught napping if BJP breaks alliance

Mumbai: A senior Shiv Sena leader and cabinet minister has said that his party is ready to go it alone in the Assembly polls if the BJP breaks the alliance before the Vidhan Sabha polls. “We will not be caught napping this time and we are prepared to fight on our own,” he said.

In the BJP state executive meeting held a couple of days ago, several top office-bearers of the party made a clamour of contesting all 288 seats of the state Assembly separately. While the Sena has not reacted openly to the same, it has started its own preparations long ago while keeping such a possibility in mind, said party sources.

“It will not be a major shock for us if the BJP breaks the alliance for the Assembly polls. In a worst-case scenario, we are prepared to fight on our own. Not just on paper, but also on ground,” the Sena minister told The Asian Age.

He added that they were unprepared the last time as the BJP had broken the alliance just before the first day of filing nominations. But the same mistake would not be repeated. The Sena will be ready to contest all 288 seats independently, he said.

However, the minister insisted that they were very positive that the Sena-BJP alliance would fight the Vidhan Sabha polls together.

“There are people, whose chances of getting tickets are less if the Sena-BJP fights together. Hence, they are the ones talking against the alliance. But the others are very much in favour of it. There are a sizeable number of voters, who do not want the Sena and BJP to contest separately,” he added.

The Sena leader also claimed that the support that Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray was getting in his ongoing Jan Aashirwad Yatra in the state was encouraging for the party. “What is more important is that Aaditya is being accepted by the people as a leader. He has become mature and his speech has also improved. He speaks the language of today’s generation,” the Sena leader said.