Maharashtra BJP to decide on alliance issue by Aug 15

The state BJP will take a decision on continuance of the party's alliance with the Shiv Sena by August 15 and send it to party high command for the final nod, said Nitin Gadkari, president of the state unit of BJP.

On Sunday, speaking at a party function, Sena's working president Uddhav Thackeray said, "The ball is in the BJP's court and they have to decide whether to continue the alliance or not. It was the BJP which had raised a question mark on the future of the alliance and not us."

Reacting to Thackeray's statement, Gadkari said, "Senior party leaders will meet before August 15 and take a decision and refer it to party high command for its approval."

He, however, refused to indicate his position on the issue. But sources in the BJP said, "The general feeling in the party leadership is not to make ties with the Sena a talking point at this stage, as there are no elections till mid-2009."

"Not showing the courtesy to respond to telephonic calls of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has not gone down well among our leadership. But the general mood in the party is that there is no need to respond on all these issues at this moment," sources said.