To corner BJP, Sena to fall back on Hindutva

Till late Tuesday night, the Sena leadership was hopeful of a face-saving deal with the BJP.

BJP leadership made two calls to Uddhav only after which Sena announced that it was sitting in the Opposition in the Assembly.

Shiv Sena, which has been forced to sit in the Opposition after failing to get an equitable formula to partner the BJP in the Maharashtra government, has declared its plan to revive the hardline Hindutva ideology to corner its former saffrom ally.

“Hindutva is the core of our existence which has got us to where we are. It is a constituency which is being targeted by the BJP as well. We will do all that is possible from now to ensure that we dent the BJP’s hold on this electorate,” a senior Sena leader said. The party has already started attacking the BJP on some decisions taken by the state Minority Development Ministry headed by Eknath Khadse.

Till late Tuesday night, the Sena leadership was hopeful of a face-saving deal with the BJP. “Consultations between the two parties went on till 1 am. The BJP was, however, unwilling to relent or even give concrete assurances that we would get desired ministries like Home and Revenue. We realised they were not interested in associating with us,” a senior Sena leader said.

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Till Wednesday morning, the Sena leadership harboured hopes and even cleared an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana where it almost pleaded the BJP not to join hands with the NCP and instead take the Sena on board. With no calls from the BJP, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray decided to ask his MLAs to vote against the BJP during the confidence motion in the Assembly.

Interestingly, the BJP leadership made two calls to Uddhav only after which Sena announced that it was sitting in the Opposition in the Assembly. “Such calls have no meaning. They took us for a ride all along,” a Sena leader said. Uddhav, who went into a huddle with senior party leaders to formulate the party’s strategy on Wednesday, will start a tour of Maharashtra starting November 17 in which he hopes to reach out to party workers.

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