BJP's oldest ally Shiv Sena today expressed reservation over that party's new Maharashtra unit chief Devendra Fadnavis asking "all Opposition parties to unite" and advised him to concentrate on strengthening the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance instead.
"What is his definition of 'all Opposition parties'? What does he plan to do?" an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana questioned.
Though neither Fadnavis, nor the editorial named the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, political observers feel that the new state BJP president's appeal for "all" opposition parties to come together to dislodge the Congress-NCP government was "loaded" enough to elicit this kind of query from Sena.
"We have friendly ties with BJP and Hindutva is the link for this friendship. If Sena-BJP-RPI plan a strategy, Congress-NCP and also other 'small fry' parties would vanish," the editorial said.
BJP leader Gopinath Munde has in the past said his party would welcome an alliance between its partner Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray-led MNS.
According to some media reports, it was Munde who made the BJP leadership appoint Fadnavis as the party's president in Maharashtra, and that the BJP ignored former president Nitin Gadkari's suggestion to give another term to Sudhir Mungantiwar.
Fadnavis, who represents South West Nagpur in the under-developed Vidarbha region in the state assembly, will now lead the party during the 2014 general elections.
