Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday gave out a veiled warning for Shiv Sena, hinting that BJP may contest Lok Sabha polls alone in Maharashtra. Reacting to Shah’s statement Sena said that arrogance of the party has now been revealed. Sena also said that it was ready to take on whoever challenges it.
Shah was addressing a gathering of party workers in Maharashtra’s Latur, when he said that if an alliance is helmed the party will ensure victories for all its allies, but in case it does not happen, the party will beat its former allies in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, of which, CM Devendra Fadnavis has set the target to win 40. Shah’s statement, displaying confidence of going alone to the polls, came immediatey after Fadnavis’ claim.
Reacting to the statements, the Shiv Sena said it was ready to take on whoever challenges it.
“Party workers should get rid of confusion about (prospects of) alliance (with the Shiv Sena). If the allies join us, we will ensure their win, or else will defeat them too (“patak denge”). Party workers should start preparations at every booth,” Shah said.
Shah compared the coming elections to the third battle of Panipat, in which Maratha forces were defeated by the army of Afghan ruler Ahmed Shah Durrani (Abdali). He said after this battle, the country was “enslaved” for 200 years. “If we win this election, our ideology will continue to rule for next 50 years. We should put in extra efforts to win this election,” Shah said.
For the first time, BJP has come out vociferously asserting its stand with regard Sena, at a time when the later has regularly been hitting out at the party despite being part of the government in state and the Centre.
Speaking before Shah, Fadnavis said, “The party president will decide what to do with the Shiv Sena and the proposed alliance. But the BJP should aim to win 40 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.”
“The victory of 2019 will be bigger than 2014. Last time we won 122 seats in (state) Assembly and received 1.50 crore votes. We need two crore votes to attain power on our own. The number of people who have benefited from the state government’s policies is more than that.”
Late Sunday evening, the Shiv Sena hit back at the BJP, saying its plan to win 40 seats meant it would rely on manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
“The Sena is ready to take on opposition. Those who attack us, we will surely defeat them,” said an aide of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
“The BJP’s boast of winning 40 seats is evidence that it is going to form alliance with EVMs. The BJP has been unnerved by the results of assembly elections,” he said. “Amit Shah’s arrogant and boastful statements have exposed that party….Shiv Sena talked about Hindutva and Ram temple but it seems our stand did not go down well with the BJP,” the leader said.
“The BJP does not want anybody who talks of Hindutva,” the Sena leader said.
Shah had reportedly told party MPs from Maharashtra at a meeting in Delhi last Thursday that they should be ready to contest the coming elections without an alliance, though efforts to forge a pre-poll tie-up with the Sena were on. The Sena and BJP had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in alliance but split up at the time of Assembly elections. The Sena joined the state government later.
(With inputs from agencies)
