After 70 days of political brinkmanship, estranged partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have come together to run an alliance government after 15 years in opposition. The Shiv Sena had to swallow its pride and join the BJP government fearing isolation in state politics and loss of supremacy especially in India's richest civic body, the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has an annual budget of Rs 31,000 crore. BMC contracts are the Sena's lifeblood. To lose this would have put serious curbs on the party's finances.
Shiv Sena has been ruling BMC in alliance with the BJP for the last 20 years. In the 227-member BMC, Shiv Sena has 75 seats and the BJP has 31. Shiv Sena would have lost more than the BJP in BMC and other civic and local bodies had the BJP decided to break the alliance.
The Sena, which fought its first Assembly election after the death of party founder Bal Thackeray, and that too independently, won 63 seats against its Mission 150. It has now accepted to play second fiddle to the BJP. During the campaign it had termed the BJP as its number one enemy and had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leading the Afzal Khan team bent upon dividing Maharashtra. However, the Sena leadership soon realised that had it decided to remain in the Opposition for another five years it would be hard to keep its flock together. Some of the Sena legislators had hinted they could cross over to the BJP.
Also Read
This apart, a large number of legislators, who were first time MLAs, were putting pressure on Sena President Uddhav Thackeray to bury the hatchet with the BJP.
The BJP, which had won 122 seats (121 after the death of the newly elected legislator from Nanded) was 23 short of simple majority in the 288-member state Assembly. The party was finding it hard to publicly defend the offer of outside support extended by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which Modi and his team had dubbed the "Naturally Corrupt Party". Devendra Fadnavis or the BJP in general never publicly admitted that the government had accepted or rejected the NCP's support but was ready to use it as a buffer.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena was offered the post of minister of state in the Modi Cabinet. The story of how Anil Desai returned to Mumbai from Delhi airport is well known. Thackeray wanted the BJP leadership to discuss Sena's demands for the post of deputy chief minister and key ministries including home and a second Cabinet minister at the Centre. This was rejected.
Simultaneously, back channel talks involving Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan and an RSS swayamsevak-turned State Cooperation Minister Chandrakant Patil were launched to bring Sena on board. But they were suspended for lack of consensus.
BJP continued to humiliate its former ally but offered the post of Leader of Opposition to Shiv Sena. Insiders from both parties now reveal that by accepting the post, the Shiv Sena kept a window open to rapprochement with BJP.
At the same time, Uddhav and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Eknath Shinde stepped up their attack against the BJP government for its inept handling of drought conditions, especially in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions and the deteriorating law and order. However, Fadnavis realised that an aggressive Shiv Sena may be a headache for him especially during the winter session of the state legislature slated to start from December 8 in Nagpur.
It was Fadnavis who took the initiative and made a strong case before BJP President Amit Shah for reaching out to Shiv Sena. Fadnavis also said that Sena with three MPs in the Rajya Sabha will add numbers, which the BJP desperately needs to get a majority in the upper house.
A reluctant Shah, after Modi's consent, asked Fadnavis to go ahead but with a rider that the Sena should be told in no uncertain terms that it was no more a big brother and it has lost its "giver'" role that it had claimed ahead of the Assembly polls.
Thereafter, Fadnavis personally spoke to Uddhav, indicating the BJP's desire to make the Sena a part of the government. The BJP authorised Pradhan and Patil to resume talks with Uddhav and subsequently Fadnavis took charge and held consultations with Sena MP Anil Desai and senior Sena leader Subhash Desai to further work out modalities.
Fadnavis made Shiv Sena agree that the alliance would not be restrict ed to the government but would be applicable to the civic and local bodies too. With a better strike rate than ally Shiv Sena, Fadnavis was convinced that the BJP will continue to keep it in civic and local bodies too. A desperate Shiv Sena yielded fearing loss of power.
Shiv Sena has put aside its opposition to the 9,900 Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project and statehood for Vidarbha, which the BJP is supporting. The Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute is yet another issue that the Sena has been raking up to show solidarity with the Marathi speaking population. However, the party is left with no option but to support the BJP-led government in the state and the Centre for the resolution of the long-pending dispute.
The reunion poses challenges to Shiv Sena in particular to maintain its Marathi Manoos identity, especially when the BJP has made in-roads and lured Sena's traditional vote bank. On the other hand, the BJP may have to compromise on its shat pratishat (100 per cent) rule, while keeping the alliance show on.Sanjay jog
After 70 days of political brinkmanship, estranged partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have come together to run an alliance government after 15 years in opposition. The Shiv Sena had to swallow its pride and join the BJP government fearing isolation in state politics and loss of supremacy especially in India's richest civic body, the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has an annual budget of Rs 31,000 crore. BMC contracts are the Sena's lifeblood. To lose this would have put serious curbs on the party's finances.
Shiv Sena has been ruling BMC in alliance with the BJP for the last 20 years. In the 227-member BMC, Shiv Sena has 75 seats and the BJP has 31. Shiv Sena would have lost more than the BJP in BMC and other civic and local bodies had the BJP decided to break the alliance.
The Sena, which fought its first Assembly election after the death of party founder Bal Thackeray, and that too independently, won 63 seats against its Mission 150. It has now accepted to play second fiddle to the BJP. During the campaign it had termed the BJP as its number one enemy and had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leading the Afzal Khan team bent upon dividing Maharashtra. However, the Sena leadership soon realised that had it decided to remain in the Opposition for another five years it would be hard to keep its flock together. Some of the Sena legislators had hinted they could cross over to the BJP.
This apart, a large number of legislators, who were first time MLAs, were putting pressure on Sena President Uddhav Thackeray to bury the hatchet with the BJP.
The BJP, which had won 122 seats (121 after the death of the newly elected legislator from Nanded) was 23 short of simple majority in the 288-member state Assembly. The party was finding it hard to publicly defend the offer of outside support extended by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which Modi and his team had dubbed the "Naturally Corrupt Party". Devendra Fadnavis or the BJP in general never publicly admitted that the government had accepted or rejected the NCP's support but was ready to use it as a buffer.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena was offered the post of minister of state in the Modi Cabinet. The story of how Anil Desai returned to Mumbai from Delhi airport is well known. Thackeray wanted the BJP leadership to discuss Sena's demands for the post of deputy chief minister and key ministries including home and a second Cabinet minister at the Centre. This was rejected.
Simultaneously, back channel talks involving Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan and an RSS swayamsevak-turned State Cooperation Minister Chandrakant Patil were launched to bring Sena on board. But they were suspended for lack of consensus.
BJP continued to humiliate its former ally but offered the post of Leader of Opposition to Shiv Sena. Insiders from both parties now reveal that by accepting the post, the Shiv Sena kept a window open to rapprochement with BJP.
At the same time, Uddhav and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Eknath Shinde stepped up their attack against the BJP government for its inept handling of drought conditions, especially in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions and the deteriorating law and order. However, Fadnavis realised that an aggressive Shiv Sena may be a headache for him especially during the winter session of the state legislature slated to start from December 8 in Nagpur.
It was Fadnavis who took the initiative and made a strong case before BJP President Amit Shah for reaching out to Shiv Sena. Fadnavis also said that Sena with three MPs in the Rajya Sabha will add numbers, which the BJP desperately needs to get a majority in the upper house.
A reluctant Shah, after Modi's consent, asked Fadnavis to go ahead but with a rider that the Sena should be told in no uncertain terms that it was no more a big brother and it has lost its "giver'" role that it had claimed ahead of the Assembly polls.
Thereafter, Fadnavis personally spoke to Uddhav, indicating the BJP's desire to make the Sena a part of the government. The BJP authorised Pradhan and Patil to resume talks with Uddhav and subsequently Fadnavis took charge and held consultations with Sena MP Anil Desai and senior Sena leader Subhash Desai to further work out modalities.
Fadnavis made Shiv Sena agree that the alliance would not be restrict ed to the government but would be applicable to the civic and local bodies too. With a better strike rate than ally Shiv Sena, Fadnavis was convinced that the BJP will continue to keep it in civic and local bodies too. A desperate Shiv Sena yielded fearing loss of power.
Shiv Sena has put aside its opposition to the 9,900 Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project and statehood for Vidarbha, which the BJP is supporting. The Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute is yet another issue that the Sena has been raking up to show solidarity with the Marathi speaking population. However, the party is left with no option but to support the BJP-led government in the state and the Centre for the resolution of the long-pending dispute.
The reunion poses challenges to Shiv Sena in particular to maintain its Marathi Manoos identity, especially when the BJP has made in-roads and lured Sena's traditional vote bank. On the other hand, the BJP may have to compromise on its shat pratishat (100 per cent) rule, while keeping the alliance show on.
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
