Maharashtra Assembly elections: Widening gap between Shiv Sena-BJP threatens alliance

In an unprecedented move, the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray expressed his desire to be the next chief minister of Maharashtra which has shocked its alliance partner for 30 years, the BJP.

It has been a tradition in the Thackeray family that the they lead the party and assume the role of kingmakers, but this time Uddhav said that he would not shy away from the responsibility of becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

This is a strategic move by Uddhav Thackeray to put a brake to the domination of BJP, which has always been a playing a second fiddle for the past 25 years.

Diwakar Ravate, one of the top leaders of Shiv Sena said, "At least in Maharashtra we will not be tolerating their (BJP's) domination. We only pay our respect to our leader late Balasaheb Thackeray. Although, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is quite capable as a leader and has the potential to catch votes, we will not accept any other leader except Balasaheb Thackeray and we are not power hungry as our self respect is of prime importance to us."

It may be recalled that the late Pramod Mahajan was instrumental in shaping the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the mid 80's. Since then, Shiv Sena has dominated the state politics.

It is a fact that the BJP could gain some strength in the state only with the support of the Shiv Sena. After 1985, Shiv Sena spread its base in rural Maharashtra and presently it is the only party which has a strong rural as well as urban base.

However, the political scenario drastically changed with the sad demise of Gopinath Munde, the BJP leader who carved out 'Maha-uti' by converging small splinter groups of Shetkari Sanghatna, Maratha Mahasangh and RPI.

With a view to control the damage arising out of small local groups, Munde made alliances with Swabhimani Sanghatana, RPI Athawale group, Shivsangram party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh.

This was a strategic move to converge the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the Dalit forces to counter the Maratha-dominated party such as the NCP.

However, after his death in a road accident in New Delhi, the Marathi dynamics of the state came to an abrupt halt and are now dominated by the Gujarati community.

According to sources, national president of the BJP, Amit Shah vowed to capture the reign and started dictating terms to the party ally, Shiv Sena. Such a domineering move of the BJP is unacceptable to the Shiv Sena.

Nitin Gadkari, the Union Transport Minister who is not in favor of ties with the Shiv Sena, aspires to remain a key figure in the central politics although he is taking a keen interest in the party's strategy for Maharashtra elections.

It is also known that three special teams of the BJP lead by Nitin Gadkari have reportedly made an extensive study of the state assembly seats which Shiv Sena lost in 2009 and assessed the feasibility of winning the same.

After the tragic death of Gopinath Munde, the state BJP has become leader-less. Although, his daughter Pankaja Munde-Palve is launching a 'Sangharsha Yatra' all over the state, there are many claimants for the position of the chief minister of Maharashtra.

The likes of Devendra Fadvanavis, the state BJP Chief, Eknath Khadse, senior BJP leader and Vinod Tavade, the opposition leader in state council are also in the race for the top post.

However, no leader has the stature to claim the Chief Minister's post.

Fully aware of the lack of stature among the BJP leaders, Uddhav Thackeray has suddenly announced his aspiration to become the chief minister only with a view to decrease the increasing clout of the BJP.

The old seat sharing formula of the year 2009 was 171 seats for the Shiv Sena and 117 seats for the BJP.

However, Shiv Sena won 44 seats and BJP 46 seats respectively in 2009.

The BJP is very unhappy with the old seat sharing arrangement after their victory in the recent parliamentary elections in which BJP-Shiv Sena bagged 42 seats.

The BJP has been trying capture the halfway mark of 144 seats to achieve its goal of coming to power on its own. However the Shiv Sena is vehemently opposing this move.

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance may be finalised eventually, but there is a widening contrast in their ideologies which might not work out to be in favor of such an alliance in future.