The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced its candidates for 125 assembly seats of Maharashtra. Its ally, the Shiv Sena, too released list of 68 candidates. The two parties announced on Monday that they will remain together in this month’s election, unlike the previous poll when they parted ways after failing to secure a seat sharing agreement. It is clear now that BJP will remain the big brother of the alliance, despite some muscle flexing by the Sena.
Here are four reasons why Sena will accept the junior partner status but continue to keep talking about its claim for the chief minister post.
Changed scenario
Sena realises that the BJP’s strength and size has grown many folds over the past five years. The BJP is no more a party of urban pockets and has grown even in rural areas. Sena’s experiment to go solo in assembly and municipal elections did not yield good results.
United opposition
When the BJP and Sena decided to go alone in the 2014 assembly election, the opposition was divided. The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, too, failed to stitch up an alliance in the previous election. It is a battle of survival for two opposition parties and they have come together in this election. Sena knows it cannot afford to go alone this time.
Family prestige
Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya has taken a plunge in electoral politics this time. He is the first member from the ‘first family’ of Sena to contest a direct election. The Sena needs to show to the world that the young leader has grown enough to lead the party to a good show in assembly election. This is possible only when it is in alliance with the BJP.
High morale
Sena needs to keep the morale of its workers high in spite of an aggressive BJP. The party workers are unhappy that it lost the big brother status to the BJP. It is driving home a point to its workers that no matter how many seats the two parties are contesting, the chief minister’s post will eventually go to Aaditya Thackeray. That is a good enough reason for Shiv Sainiks to try and secure a higher strike rate in this election.
