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Even as exit polls gave an upper edge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Maharashtra polls, the BJP’s former ally Shiv Sena said on Friday claimed it would cross 100 seats and form the government in the state.
As of now, the party has taken a ‘wait and watch‘ policy. It also said it was not at all amused with the opinions expressed by a few BJP leaders that Shiv Sena is not an enemy and that a post-poll alliance could be possible in the even of a fractured mandate.
Shiv Sena leaders, who informally met on Thursday and Friday, said there was no talk of a rapprochement with the BJP or a revival of the alliance after poll results are declared on October 19.
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“Shiv Sena is quite hopeful to perform well. The BJP severed ties with us owing to lack of agreement over seat-sharing. Any talk of a revival of the alliance after the results, sounds meaningless this juncture,” a senior party leader close to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray told Business Standard.
He added the party could not forget the humiliation it suffered at the hands of the BJP during the seat-sharing talks as well as during the poll campaign. “The BJP cannot take Shiv Sena for granted this time around. Yesterday (Thursday), the leader of opposition in the state Assembly, Eknath Khadse, had said that poll results would prove who is the big brother and who is the small brother in Maharashtra. It was Khadse’s attempt to once again ridicule the Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray. Such statements are unwarranted.”
According to another Shiv Sena leader, if an alliance with the BJP be formed, it will be on Shiv Sena’s terms and conditions. “Any such understanding will not be at the cost of Shiv Sena's pride and self respect,” he noted.
On the option of the Shiv Sena joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and other smaller parties to form a government, the Sena leader said the party has not given it a thought.
“The major hurdle is how can such a tie-up be possible when Shiv Sena was quite vocal against the NCP for its alleged involvement in a number of corruption cases and scams,” he said.
