Shiv Sena which has decided to go solo in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election is likely to quit the Fadnavis government on 18th February. Sena ministers will tender their resignation after party chief Uddhav Thackeray will address a rally on the same day in the city. Of late the relation between both Sena and BJP had strained as they failed to arrive at a consensus over seat sharing issue for contesting the civic body polls. Since then both parties have been involved in a blame game. Already grassroot workers want Sena to quit the government and start preparing for the 2019 state assembly polls.
According to them, Sena is not getting its due by continuing with the Fadnavis government and the former should now concentrate on expanding its foothold in the city and state. Moreover, Sena is keen to impose pressure on BJP ahead of the BMC election. There is a possibility of Sena ministers handing over their resignation to Uddhav Thackeray instead of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Earlier Sena ministers had a meeting with Fadnavis and urged him to waive loans availed by farmers. For challenging BJP in its own bastion, Sena also is wooing Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel to lure Gujarati voters. The party had declared Hardik as its chief ministerial candidate for Gujarat assembly polls.
Uddhav Thackeray said, “We had an alliance with BJP for contesting Lok Sabha polls but had severed ties with them during assembly election. Now we are planning to contest BMC polls singlehandedly. If things don’t work out it is always right to find other alternatives. We shall make an appropriate move when it will be in the interest of Maharashtra.”
Thus speculations are rife in political circles about whether Sena will quit the alliance with Fadnavis government. A message already has gone viral pertaining to Sena’s exit from the government on 18th February. However, party leaders have not confirmed the same.
According to sources, “Sena leaders may have leaked the message to garner publicity ahead of civic body polls. Right now they are competing with BJP to gain an upper hand over them in BMC election.”
On the other hand, BJP is trying to wrest the control of the BMC which is currently ruled by Sena. Already Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had said that the downfall of the Fadnavis government has begun and it is on notice period. If Sena quits the government, the BJP will need 10 seats to keep afloat in the House. Sena has 75 corporators in the 227-member BMC, while the BJP has 31. BJP strategists believe if the Shiv Sena crosses the 90 mark and the BJP fails to reach the 50 figure, the former will quit the government.
