Reduced to playing the second fiddle to BJP in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena is leaving no stone unturned to peg back its oldest ally in the neighbouring states. After its overtures to former RSS chief in Goa, Subhash Velingkar, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is now eyeing an alliance with Patidar leader Hardik Patel in Gujarat. Though, Mr Patel has so far remained non committal, the party is hoping to contest at least 75 assembly seats in the next Gujarat assembly polls by joining hands with his organisation.
Aspiring to expand its base outside Maharashtra, Sena is targeting neighbouring Gujarat, even though it has no local network there. “Sena chief Uddhavji Thackeray wants to expand the party base. We have decided to contest 75 out of the total 182 seats in Gujarat Assembly. We decided to go to neighbouring states after garnering good votes in the last Bihar polls,” a senior Sena leader told this newspaper on condition of anonymity.
Also confirming that the party is in talks with Mr Patel, the Sena leader said, “We are conducting primary talks with Hardik Patel. Things are yet to be finalised.”
However, speaking to this newspaper from Rajasthan, Mr Patel dismissed any possibility of a tie-up with Sena. “We are not having any alliance or talks with Shiv Sena. This is information is wrong,” he said.
Gujarat Assembly poll, 2017, is going to be a prestige matter for Mr Modi and his close aide and BJP national president Amit Shah. The polls also gain importance following the widespread protests by the Patel community, which has a huge presence in Gujarat, demanding reservation of the Patels in the OBC category.
Apart from Gujarat, Sena is also planning to contest the Assembly polls in Goa in partnership with Mr Velingar. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in-charge of the state for the polls has held discussions with Mr Velingar last week and both have reportedly agreed to form an alliance.
