While Union minister and former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari hinted at a post-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena, senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said his party would not join its erstwhile ally in case of a fractured mandate in the assembly elections on October 15. Raut attacked the BJP for snapping its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena.
The BJP's divorce with the Sena was pre-decided and hinted that the decision to break the saffron alliance may have come at the behest of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, he said. He was, however, ambivalent on the Sena tying up with the NCP after the polls, even though he said political adversaries are better than friends like the BJP.
Raut said while the Sena had set itself an ambitious target to win 150 seats of the 169 it contested in alliance with the BJP ('Mission 150'), the party has revised it to 200 since they were contesting 286 seats. He ridiculed the BJP for trying to claim the legacy of warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in its assembly campaign, saying the party had never celebrated Shiv Jayanti.
Will the Modi wave work in the state?
Raut believes the Modi wave will have little impact in Maharashtra. "The BJP was friends with us for many years. However, they stabbed us in the back. The sentiment within the Sena now is that we should not share power with BJP in future," he said. Raut claimed that the Sena was confident of coming to power on its own.
What's Raut's assessment of Modi himself?
"We love and respect Narendra Modi. He is leading the country well. The people have voted him to the prime minister's office. He is not going to come to Maharashtra and become chief minister. Maharashtra wants a Shiv Sena chief minister," said Raut. He referred to the recent by-elections in UP, Bihar and other states and said: "There are ups and downs in politics."
Can the Sena afford to go without the BJP?
"The BJP must have felt that since they benefited from a Modi wave during the Lok Sabha elections, they don't need the Sena. But Maharashtra's politics cannot move an inch without the Sena," said Raut. "If you don't want an alliance, why did you keep it intact for the Lok Sabha? Because you wanted Modi to be prime minister? They showed their selfishness by snapping the alliance after the success in the Lok Sabha," he said.
How did the BJP-Sena alliance break up?
"It seemed to have been pre-mediated. Even then we tried to fulfill the BJP's unreasonable demands. We were ready to part with 18 seats from our quota, but their hunger was not satiated. They were more eager to snap the alliance than forge it," charged Raut. He believes the NCP could have been responsible for BJP snapping ties with the Sena. Raut hinted at some sort of an "understanding" between the BJP and the NCP.
