The public bonhomie between the saffron allies in Maharashtra hides a dilemma for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Should it ditch its alliance with partner Shiv Sena and gun for total dominance of the state, or should it keep it in the interests of alliance dharma and Parliament numbers?
As the assembly election draws closer, sections in the BJP are beginning to feel that perhaps it’s time to go solo and win Maharashtra on its own.
On 24 June, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray jointly addressed legislators of BJP and Sena on the assembly premises. A few days before that, Fadnavis had addressed Sena cadres at the regional party’s foundation day event.
Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who since the joint election campaign of the saffron allies in 2019 started addressing Thackeray as his younger brother, Fadnavis addresses the Shiv Sena president as his elder brother. At the Shiv Sena’s foundation day event and joint gathering of legislators, both Fadnavis and Thackeray asserted the need to stay united and not worry about which of the two parties gets the post of the chief minister after assembly elections. A BJP legislator, who requested anonymity, said both leaders also cautioned their cadres against making “controversial statements" in the media about the chief minister’s post.