Mumbai: As the trends for the Maharashtra assembly polls began to consolidate, it became clear that the Shiv Sena was no more going to accept a junior position in its coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party, and will perhaps change the political scene in the state. At 2 pm, as per Election Commission trends available for all 288 constituent assembly seats, the BJP was leading on 102 seats and the Sena on 59 seats.
The Sena and BJP have had a difficult alliance, with the former constantly taking a dig at the BJP’s decisions in the state. Even after the election dates were announced and the two parties had begun campaigning, several Shiv Sena leaders and the party’s mouthpiece, Saamna, had taken jibes at the BJP.
Today’s results have sprung a surprise for both the ruling party and the opposition. While the BJP has not been able to meet its target of over 120 seats, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have faired a lot better than predicted in the exit polls. This has given rise to several permutation and combinations, and the Sena has emerged as a key player in these equations.
Also read: Maharashtra assembly election results live
Social media has been abuzz with possibilities of the Sena forming an alliance with the Congress and NCP to keep the BJP out of power. Reacting to the results, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said his party’s priority will be to keep the BJP “out of power” in Maharashtra. Sanjay Raut, senior Shiva Sena leader, told the regional media, “While the Sena has always played the politics of ideology, the decision on alliance will soon be taken by the party chief Uddhav Thackeray.”
He also added that if the two parties formed a government together, they would insist on the “50-50” sharing formula. “We fought the polls in alliance with the BJP and we will go ahead with them. We will insist on sticking to the pre-decided 50-50 formula,” awant.
The Sena has been vocal about its political ambition and had demanded for the deputy chief minister post for the party’s youth leader, Aaditya Thackeray. Aaditya, who had contested from the Worli region, is inching towards victory with a huge margin. The party had also insisted on a chief ministerial position for 2.5 years. The Shiv Sena seems to be a great position to bargain for either equation.
In 2014, when the Congress and NCP had contested separately, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had expressed interest in forming an alliance with the BJP. The offer, however, was rejected and eventually the NCP had returned to the Congress. Sources close to Pawar have indicated that he could try to contact Sena head Uddhav Thackeray to form an alliance in the state.
For over 50 years, Maharashtra’s politics have revolved around Pawar. In this assembly election, when the Congress had half-heartedly contested on most seats, 79-year-old Pawar was seen campaigning for his party across the state. He is once again at the centre of the state’s politics. The Sena too shares a friendly relationship with Pawar.
In 2014, the BJP had put up candidates on 260 seats and had won 122 of them. The Shiv Sena had fielded candidates in all 282 constituencies and had won 63 of them. While the BJP’s overall performance has gone down, the Sena had managed to retain its core seats.
While the BJP’s strike rate was far better than its partner Sena in the Lok Sabha elections, the situation in the state election is changing drastically. The final figures and the offers made from both the BJP and the Congress-NCP combine will decide the political fate of the state.