Stepping up its demand for simultaneous polls in the state, Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs today threatened to resign from the Assembly if the Shinde government did not oblige. At a meeting of senior saffron alliance leaders, it was decided that all 125 members of the combine would quit the Assembly if Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde does not accede. BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said by not going in for simultaneous polls, the government would add to the burden on the state exchequer. ‘‘I am surprised and shocked,’’ he said. The Assembly term ends in September. Mahajan, however, has not set a deadline for Shinde to take a decision on dissolving the Assembly. Besides Mahajan, the meeting was attended by Sena leaders Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, speaker of the dissolved Lok Sabha, Manohar Joshi, former Chief Minister Narayan Rane and BJP’s Gopinath Munde, Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde. Shinde ridiculed Mahajan’s demand, saying his party has imposed elections on the nation. ‘‘At a juncture when the State is reeling under severe drought, it has to prepare itself for elections. Under such circumstances, there was no need for Prime Minister Vajpayee to advance the elections,’’ Shinde said. After the meeting, Mahajan and Uddhav called on Sena chief Bal Thackeray to brief him on the decision. Mahajan made it clear that since it was a political fight, the alliance would not approach the EC though it was well within its powers to dissolve the Assembly if the interval between state and Central polls is less than six months. The BJP-Sena seat deal is also on track, he said. Shiv Sena will contest 22 while the BJP will contest 26.
