Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that he met Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, 14 February, to discuss the alliance with BJP. The CM added that an announcement will be made soon.
Fadnavis said that there were some some farmers’ issues that were raised by Shiv Sena and they will be resolved soon. He also said that political discussions were limited due to the Pulwama attack that killed at least 37 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
On Thursday, the Shiv Sena indicated that if the BJP does not take any decision on the alliance before Friday, 15 February, it will announce the names of the candidates for the upcoming elections.
After Sena's ultimatum, Fadnavis himself went to meet Thackeray at Matoshri.
Uddhav’s Message to BJP Leadership
According to the Shiv Sena ministers, the party chief's message was sent to the BJP leadership. It is said that through this message, Thackeray has appealed to the BJP top brass to take a decision on the alliance as soon as possible.
Sena's Demand
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told ANI on Thursday about the party's primary demands from the BJP. The BJP leadership has been informed of these demands. However, it is not yet clear whether BJP has reached consensus on this.
As per Sena’s terms, if the NDA wins the elections, the prime minister should be from BJP, but the BJP has to give the chief ministerial post to its old allies in the states. Raut said that an Akali Dal candidate in Punjab, a JD(U) candidate in Bihar and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra should get the chief minister posts.
According to sources, these were some of the demands Shiv Sena put before BJP:
- 25 seats to Shiv Sena for the alliance in upcoming elections.
- Shiv Sena should get 125 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections.
- Next Maharashtra Chief Minister should be from Shiv Sena.
No Consensus on Proposals
NDA has been trying to pull all the allies together for the upcoming elections, and if BJP decides to accept the demands of Shiv Sena's chief ministerial posts, the latter might consider an alliance with BJP.
But according to reports, Union Minister Gadkari and Fadnavis are not in favour of agreeing to Sena’s demands. There has been no reaction from party President Amit Shah on this proposal yet.
(This story was first published on Quint Hindi and has been translated by Aparna Singh)
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