Shiv Sena publicly warns BJP to shed arrogance, threatens to withdraw support

On the eve of one year of their alliance, the Shiv Sena and the BJP are back to squabbling and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has threatened to withdraw support to the Maharashtra government if the BJP does not shed its arrogance.

The rift between the parties comes just ahead of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections. It was set in motion after senior Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde submitted his resignation as guardian minister of Kalyan and Dombivali to Thackeray on Friday. However, Thackeray rejected the resignation and publicly warned the BJP to shed its political arrogance. In turn, Fadnavis, who addressed a party rally in Kalyan Friday, told the Sena not to undermine the BJP and that his party was not “wearing bangles”.

The Sena and the BJP have emerged as the main rivals in the KDMC polls. Both parties heightened the pitch of their campaign Friday, by accusing each other on their political conduct. Thackeray has issued a threat to destabilise the government and Fadnavis has said that the Sena had no business dragging the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or questioning the BJP’s “rashtrabhakti” or patriotism. The elections for KDMC will take place on November 1. The Sena-BJP alliance is contesting the KDMC elections for 122 seats. However, the BJP’s aggressive campaign appears to have worried the Sena. It does not want to lose the local bodies at any cost. Shinde’s resignation is being seen as an attempt by the Sena to highlight police high-handedness against Sena workers. However, the BJP has complained about attacks by Sena workers on its own party workers, leading to the hospitalisation of a local leader. On the last day of the campaign which ended at 5.30 pm Friday, Thackeray said, “Former prime minister Indira Gandhi was thrown out by the commoner. What is your (BJP) status? If this government behaves in ‘masti’ we will withdraw our support.”

Earlier addressing BJP party workers in Kalyan-Dombivali, Fadnavis sounded a warning that if anyone tried to take law into their hands, there would be serious consequences. According to him, the Shiv Sena had failed miserably in KDMC. He added that the party’s “muscle flexing” would not work this time. “We will give a befitting reply to Sena’s bullet with ballot. They are resorting to physical violence as they can sense their defeat in the KDMC polls,” he said, urging BJP workers to adopt democratic norms and avoid retaliating. However, he added, “They should know BJP workers are not wearing bangles.”

An upset Thackeray shot back saying, “If Sena activists are shown tadipaar (asked to leave city limits), we will tadipaar this government too.”
Fadnavis also ridiculed the Shiv Sena’s anti-Pakistan stand. “The Sena which went around digging cricket pitches in Wankhede and Ferozshah Kotla, never had any problems hosting a special match for Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad who is related to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.” He also told the Sena to stop questioning the BJP’s patriotism. “We protested and went to prisons during the Emergency. Where was the Sena? We fought for the right to hoist the Indian flag in Kashmir,” he said.

Eknath Shinde was unavailable for comment despite several attempts, but a party source close to the minister said, “He put in his resignation mainly as Shiv Sena leaders and candidates were being unnecessarily harassed and targeted during campaigning for the Kalyan-Dombivli elections. The BJP-led government is doing nothing about it. The minister said he could not just quietly sit next to the chief minister in cabinet meetings at a time when his party workers were getting unfair treatment in Kalyan Dombivli.” He added there had been some clashes between the Shiv Sena and BJP cadre during poll campaigning. “Shinde is the guardian minister for Thane and felt it was his responsibility to take a strong stance for his party workers,” he said.

The Shiv Sena has had a strong hold over not just Kalyan Dombivli, but the entire Thane district. In the KDMC, the Shiv Sena now has 31 of the 122 seats and is the party with the maximum number of councillors. Even in the Thane Municipal Corporation which will go to polls in 2017, the Shiv Sena has the highest number of corporators and 53 of the 130 seats. The BJP has nine corporators in Kalyan-Dombivli and eight in Thane. With pre-poll predictions signalling a win for the Shiv Sena again, the BJP in its solo fight is more focused on improving its performance and eating into Shiv Sena’s votes.

Sources say that Shinde has also been unhappy with his limited role in the government of overseeing the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. It currently has no major active projects. A couple of projects are in the pipeline and several are stalled due to lack of government approvals.