Despite a personal visit by BJP president Amit Shah, a ministerial rank for a Thackeray family confidante and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' tweet on its foundation day, the Shiv Sena seems to be firm on fighting elections on its own.
On Tuesday, which was Shiv Sena's 52nd foundation day, the leadership made it obvious from the word go that they were eager to contest LS elections 2019 without allying with the BJP.
Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, who spoke at the inaugural session, stressed that they would contest the elections and come to power on their own, while Sena president Uddhav Thackeray was trenchant in his criticism of the BJP. "We will have a Shiv Sena chief minister in Maharashtra," said Uddhav, who attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling electoral promises.
Sena sources said they would fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on their own. Sena is hoping that a lower tally for the BJP may make them dependent on smaller parties for power. This, they claimed, would give the Sena more elbow room to get a better deal in the Maharashtra assembly polls.
Moreover, Sena leaders claimed that in a contest with the BJP, the political space was polarised between the two, the way it happened in the Palghar Lok Sabha bypolls, keeping the opposition Congress-NCP on the fringes. In Palghar, the BJP managed to pip Sena by around 30,000 votes.
They said even if the Sena cannot come to power on its own in Maharashtra, their seat tally may rise from the present 63, which would mean a concurrent decline in the BJP's electoral fortunes.
However, party veteran Manohar Joshi struck a note of caution pointing to how the Shiv Sena had been unable to come to power on its own unlike other regional formations.
