MUMBAI, Nov 24: With the possibility of a mid-term poll looming large questions are once again being raised about the troubled relationship between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The Sena's show of independence seems to be giving the BJP some cause for worry. A series of contradictions between the aims and objectives of the two parties, notwithstanding their common Hindutva agenda, have led to several public spats between the leaders of the allies, manifest in Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde's recent outcry at being `ignored' at official functions by the Sena-led governments. The BJP has by and large been riding piggyback on the Sena in Mumbai, Marathwada and Konkan. Yet it seems highly reluctant to return the favour, particularly in Vidarbha, a virgin territory for the Sena where it has been trying hard to register a presence.Sena leaders complain that the BJP refuses to facilitate the growth of its shakhas in this region.So the party launched off on its own by flagging of the ``Vidarbha Vision 2001'' programme in Nagpur last week aimed at developing this backward region and simultaneously its own party cadres. Now it has shown even more independence by steering clear of committing itself to the BJP's attempts to `break and make' a government at the Centre.According to top ranking sources in the party, the BJP received an unpleasant shock of sorts last week, when the Sena Parliamentary Party refused to be part of a signature campaign proposed by the BJP to conjure up the magic numbers to form the government.This apparent refusal was followed up by a conspicuous absence on Monday of Shiv Sena MPs from a BJP-sponsored delegation of first-time members to the President requesting him not to dissolve the current Lok Sabha.To add to BJP troubles there appears to be a consolidation of the anti-Hindutva forces, who have recently made overtures to the Congress in Maharashtra, with an offer to come to some sort of loose arrangement to keep the BJP at bay at the next elections.While the Congress may gain at BJP's cost from such an arrangement, the Sena is less troubled by such moves for it is confident that the Thackeray charisma will work for it so that it can be a force to `bargain' with after the elections.``We will not break our alliance in case of elections. But the Bharatiya Janata Party will have to be content with more or less the same sharing and arrangement that we have now,'' another senior Shiv Sena leader said.
