Shiv Sena and BJP Differ for CM’s Post

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena seem to be at a difference over the exact formula they had agreed upon to come together, raising questions on their partnership.

Though the alliance was announced on Monday, there was no clarity about the exact terms and the cadres of both the parties were curious about it.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had told his party on Tuesday that the Shiv Sena had concluded a good deal from the BJP. “The CM spoke of equal distribution of portfolios and power — this means I have brought (the two parties) on the same platform,” said Thackeray.

“For the last 25 years, we were following a formula which said that whoever wins the most number of assembly seats will have its chief minister, but I have not accepted that formula. Our dream is to have our own CM,” he added.

According to Shiv Sena, the two parties had agreed to share the chief minister’s post, i.e., for 2.5 years each, if they managed to come to power in the 2019 assembly polls.

According to the tie-up, the BJP will contest 25 seats and Sena 23 of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. The BJP and Sena had contested the 2014 assembly elections separately. Of the total 288 seats, the BJP had won 122 seats, while Sena candidates won from 63 constituencies.

But Maharashtra revenue minister Chandrakant Patil countered that, “when we talk of distribution of portfolios and power, it means the one we are currently following. Since the Sena has half the numbers now, for every two BJP ministers we are having one Sena minister, which is what’s going to be followed in 2019 as well.”