The tug-of-war between the Shiv Sena and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party about how they will share seats in October's assembly election in Maharashtra has been shifting in equilibrium for months. But for now, the BJP may have the upper hand.
Over the past few weeks, the Shiv Sena has repeatedly asserted party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s claim to the chief minister’s chair if the saffron alliance wins the election. Both parties want a larger share of constituencies to contest the election from, and both parties have periodically threatened to walk out of the alliance.
But after a typically brash Sena statement in its newspaper Saamna on Saturday, the BJP has responded with vehemence. The Sena editorial equated the BJP’s demand for more seats to unfettered sexual “lust” that could lead to divorce. The editorial was published just a day after Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray claimed in an interview that the Modi wave did not influence the Lok Sabha election in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Orissa. Like in Maharashtra, the BJP's alliance partners played a crucial role in these victories, he said.
Widespread resentment
In reaction, the BJP’s state unit announced on Sunday that its party workers, across ranks, overwhelmingly felt that all talks with the Sena must be stopped.
“The style with which the Shiv Sena has tried to demean Narendra Modi’s leadership and belittle our party cadres is not at all tolerable to the workers,” said Madhav Bhandari, the BJP's spokesperson for the state. The BJP says it has been monitoring the mood of members on the issue of seat-sharing for some time, partly through social media.
“Modi is our supreme leader whose popularity has brought us here, so if our allies don’t recognise this and mend their ways, then party workers feel we would have to rethink the alliance,” said Bhandari.
Maharashtra has 288 legislative assembly seats, and traditionally, the Shiv Sena had been able to assert its superiority in the alliance by contesting in a higher number of constituencies. In the 2004 state election, for instance, the Shiv Sena contested from 171 seats while the BJP was given just 117. In 2009, the number was 169 to 119 in favour of the Sena, even though the BJP won more seats than the Sena.
In the 2014 assembly election, however, the tussle over seat-sharing has been complicated by smaller allies such as the Republican Party of India and the Swabhimaani Shetkari Sanghatana entering the fray. The Republican Party leader Ramdas Athawale, for instance, has been pressurising the two bigger parties to give him more than 10 seats.
While some BJP leaders want seats to be split equally with the Sena after allocations are made for these smaller allies, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut declared on Saturday that the party would accept nothing less than 150 seats for itself.
“How the BJP and Sena distribute constituencies amongst the smaller allies will be a crucial issue for them this election,” said Surendra Jhondale, a Mumbai-based political commentator. “The seats would have to come out of one of their quotas, and there is bound to be resentment and blame among local party workers after that.”
The core disagreement, nonetheless, remains that of the chief minister's chair. Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who has chief ministerial ambitions himself, said that the position would be allocated to the party that wins more seats in the election.
Changing circumstances
While Shiv Sena party spokespersons could not be reached, BJP party workers cite a number of reasons to justify their claim to the office. “There was a time when the population of Maharashtra was dominated by Maharashtrians, but today the state has millions of residents coming from other states,” said Pooran Dave, general secretary of Mumbai’s Colaba constituency. “Why should the CM only be chosen from a regional party like the Sena when the BJP is a national party?”
With just a month left to go for the state election, the squabble between the allies is more high-pitched. “Last week, for the first time, Uddhav Thackeray questioned Modi’s influence in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha election,” said political commentator Prakash Bal. “The BJP has responded with a strong signal by involving its lower cadre and claiming that they are unhappy, but such a move will definitely increase resentment and rebellion amongst party workers.” said Bal.
The Sena and BJP "do not have the luxury of time to sort out their differences", he said. “We cannot be sure what will happen but however they choose to settle this issue, there will always be some resentment among party workers.”
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Over the past few weeks, the Shiv Sena has repeatedly asserted party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s claim to the chief minister’s chair if the saffron alliance wins the election. Both parties want a larger share of constituencies to contest the election from, and both parties have periodically threatened to walk out of the alliance.
But after a typically brash Sena statement in its newspaper Saamna on Saturday, the BJP has responded with vehemence. The Sena editorial equated the BJP’s demand for more seats to unfettered sexual “lust” that could lead to divorce. The editorial was published just a day after Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray claimed in an interview that the Modi wave did not influence the Lok Sabha election in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Orissa. Like in Maharashtra, the BJP's alliance partners played a crucial role in these victories, he said.
Widespread resentment
In reaction, the BJP’s state unit announced on Sunday that its party workers, across ranks, overwhelmingly felt that all talks with the Sena must be stopped.
“The style with which the Shiv Sena has tried to demean Narendra Modi’s leadership and belittle our party cadres is not at all tolerable to the workers,” said Madhav Bhandari, the BJP's spokesperson for the state. The BJP says it has been monitoring the mood of members on the issue of seat-sharing for some time, partly through social media.
“Modi is our supreme leader whose popularity has brought us here, so if our allies don’t recognise this and mend their ways, then party workers feel we would have to rethink the alliance,” said Bhandari.
Maharashtra has 288 legislative assembly seats, and traditionally, the Shiv Sena had been able to assert its superiority in the alliance by contesting in a higher number of constituencies. In the 2004 state election, for instance, the Shiv Sena contested from 171 seats while the BJP was given just 117. In 2009, the number was 169 to 119 in favour of the Sena, even though the BJP won more seats than the Sena.
In the 2014 assembly election, however, the tussle over seat-sharing has been complicated by smaller allies such as the Republican Party of India and the Swabhimaani Shetkari Sanghatana entering the fray. The Republican Party leader Ramdas Athawale, for instance, has been pressurising the two bigger parties to give him more than 10 seats.
While some BJP leaders want seats to be split equally with the Sena after allocations are made for these smaller allies, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut declared on Saturday that the party would accept nothing less than 150 seats for itself.
“How the BJP and Sena distribute constituencies amongst the smaller allies will be a crucial issue for them this election,” said Surendra Jhondale, a Mumbai-based political commentator. “The seats would have to come out of one of their quotas, and there is bound to be resentment and blame among local party workers after that.”
The core disagreement, nonetheless, remains that of the chief minister's chair. Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who has chief ministerial ambitions himself, said that the position would be allocated to the party that wins more seats in the election.
Changing circumstances
While Shiv Sena party spokespersons could not be reached, BJP party workers cite a number of reasons to justify their claim to the office. “There was a time when the population of Maharashtra was dominated by Maharashtrians, but today the state has millions of residents coming from other states,” said Pooran Dave, general secretary of Mumbai’s Colaba constituency. “Why should the CM only be chosen from a regional party like the Sena when the BJP is a national party?”
With just a month left to go for the state election, the squabble between the allies is more high-pitched. “Last week, for the first time, Uddhav Thackeray questioned Modi’s influence in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha election,” said political commentator Prakash Bal. “The BJP has responded with a strong signal by involving its lower cadre and claiming that they are unhappy, but such a move will definitely increase resentment and rebellion amongst party workers.” said Bal.
The Sena and BJP "do not have the luxury of time to sort out their differences", he said. “We cannot be sure what will happen but however they choose to settle this issue, there will always be some resentment among party workers.”
