BJP-Sena alliance still intact, says CM

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday that the alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena is intact and would remain so. “With the Sena and BJP being together, the Congress-NCP combine will have to sit in Opposition for another 10 to 15 years,” the chief minister said in the Legislative Assembly.

Mr Fadnavis was responding to Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s dig at the Sena for its “silence” on the upcoming Nanar refinery and Sammruddhi corridor projects.

“Their (Sena’s) resignation letters lie into the Sarayu River now,” Mr Vikhe-Patil said.

This was in reference to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s Ayodhya tour and prayer halt at the Sarayu River.

Looking in Mr Vikhe-Patil’s direction, Mr Fadnavis said, “You don’t worry. Both of us (Sena and BJP) are together and there is no need for any resignations”. He further added, “Since we both are together, you stand no chance (of returning to power). You will have to sit there (on the Opposition benches) for another 10 to 15 years.”

Senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam had famously said last year that he and his colleagues in the BJP-led government were carrying resignation letters in their pockets and waiting for their party chief’s directions.

The Uddhav Thack-eray-led party has been opposing the Nanar refinery project on the grounds that it is against the interest of the farmers and would destroy ecology in Ratnagiri district in the coastal Konkan region.

The party had tried to stall acquisition of the farmland for the state government’s flagship Samruddhi corridor project which envisages construction of a super-highway connecting Mumbai with Nagpur, a distance of over 700 km.