It146;s 145;settled146; after Solapur

Post-Solapur victory, the Shiv Sena-BJP combine is sitting pretty, confident of tasting power after the next Assembly polls in Maharashtra. ...

Post-Solapur victory, the Shiv Sena-BJP combine is sitting pretty, confident of tasting power after the next Assembly polls in Maharashtra. Their home-work complete, the two saffron parties believe they have to just wait for their turn as the anti-incumbency wave against the Congress-NCP alliance gets stronger by the day.

According to sources in the BJP, leaders of the two parties have closed the leadership issue as the first step to create mutual confidence. 8216;8216;The chief ministership will go to the Shiv Sena,8217;8217; the sources said here today, indicating that Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray is likely to be the next CM. The issue, according to them, has been sorted out by Sena chief Bal Thackeray and BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan.

Pawar holds Cong solely responsible for debacle
AKOLA: A day after Maharashtra CM Sushilkumar Shinde blamed the NCP for the Solapur debacle, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today hit back saying that Congress was solely responsible. Pawar said 8216;8216;negligence and inaction8217;8217; of the party had resulted in the poll debacle. Addressing NCP workers at Washim, Pawar said NCP was not at all guilty for the defeat of Congress candidate Anandrao Devkate. Stating that NCP8217;s position and image was better than Congress or BJP in Maharashtra, Pawar said the party would form an alliance with Congress for state Assembly elections, if the latter came forward with an open mind. 8212; Agencies

This is in total contrast to the last elections when the leadership issue was kept open. Since they had decided that it would go to the partner with a higher tally, they worked at cross-purposes to keep each other8217;s strength down. There would be no such mistrust and leg-pulling this time around, it is said.

The BJP, on its part, is comfortable with the prospect of the younger Thackeray becoming CM. The sources said: 8216;8216;This arrangement would be better than having a Narayan Rane and a host of centres of power to contend with. Uddhav8217;s presence would imply a single authority with a direct control who would be a substitute for all 8212; the remote-control Bal Thackeray, Raj Thackeray and Smita Thackeray.8217;8217; Maharashtra BJP chief Gopinath Munde has apparently reconciled himself to the idea of another stint as a deputy CM.

The saffron partners, who have been together since 1984, have already demarcated their seats. The Sena will contest 171 seats and the BJP, the remaining 117. The Sena is stronger in Mumbai and Konkan, while the BJP is stronger in Vidarbha and Northern Maharasthra. Both are weak in Western Maharashtra.

Since neither party wants to leave anything to chance, they have already embarked on a string of joint public meetings so that their members also get to work together. Seven joint meetings have been held in a span of four months. The Sena supremo addressed one of them, the rest by Mahajan and Uddhav.

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The rival camp, on the other hand, is still confused. The Congress and the NCP are partners, but their future relationship is uncertain. The NCP stayed out of the Solapur bypoll too. The issue is, in fact, much larger: it involves the personal egos of Congress chief Sonia andhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, besides the foreign origin issue.