Mumbai: The pre-poll alliance talks between BJP and Shiv Sena, after veering towards a broad consensus over the issue, have now shifted to haggling between local leaders of both parties, over which seats they can win.
Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday after the second round of meeting with BJP, said BJP has demanded 114 seats for Mumbai civic polls. “The BJP has put forward a demand of 114 seats for the BMC polls. We then asked them to give us the exact details of seats that it wants to contest. It was then decided between both parties that BJP will share the list…,” Desai said.
“Once we receive the list, we will hold internal negotiations which might take a day. Once that is done, we will once again sit with the BJP on our opinion,” he said.
The talks and broad consensus bears an imprint of the broad pro-alliance agreement between Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Thackeray has set a deadline of January 21 for wrapping up the talks as he would announce his decision on the eve of late Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s birth anniversary that falls on January 23.
In what appears to be a first indication of a toned down stance, senior Sena MLC Anil Parab while pointing to the fate that has befallen on senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse whom Sena treats as the architect of breaking the alliance before the 2014 Assembly polls, said that no one should commit the same “sin” of breaking the alliance this time around.
“The Sena too had then felt bad as they had to contest against those with whom they had worked closely for so many years. If at all the Sena will have any alliance it will be with the BJP or else it will contest solo,” Parab said.
Sources in the Sena admit that BJP is in a position to win around 80 seats on its own.
There are about 20 to 25 seats which both the alliance partners are claiming that they can win. (PTI)
