Hope Shiv Sena remains our ally for Lok Sabha polls, says Pankaja Munde

Even as leaders of the Shiv Sena and the BJP continue to exchange barbs in the run-up to the bypolls of Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia, state Minister for Women and Child Welfare Pankaja Munde said she hoped that the two parties retain their alliance in the upcoming general elections.

Munde was talking to the media in Pune on Saturday on the sidelines of an event to mark the Modi-led government’s four years in power at the Centre.

“We hope that the Shiv Sena remains our electoral ally. In fact, all BJP leaders wish that we contest the elections together,” she said. Munde’s statement comes in the backdrop of Sena’s decision to go it alone in the Lok Sabha elections. Asked about the regional parties drifting away from the BJP, Munde said the party leadership was capable of bringing them back.