PUNE, January 5: The Shiv Sena-Shetkari Sanghatana honeymoon got over before it could even begin with the Sena insisting that Sanghatana chief Sharad Joshi contest on its party ticket and the farmers' leader refusing.Sena leader Raj Thackeray, while admitting that Sharad Joshi had sought the support of the saffron alliance for his challenge from Khed constituency in Pune district, said Joshi will have to contest on a Sena ticket for his party's support. Reacting to this, Joshi said his party will contest on its own identity.It seems unlikely that Joshi will contest Khed. He has already said that he would prefer to contest from South Mumbai, adding that his party would contest 21 seats in all.Earlier in a press conference, Raj Thackeray admitted that Joshi had sought the Sena-BJP support from his home constituency. He said Joshi was an intelligent person and Sena would like to send him to the Lok Sabha. He, however, said Joshi must fight the election on Sena's symbol. "Why should we give up the constituency when Sena has several capable candidates in Khed?" he asked. Stating that Chief Minister Manohar Joshi was himself holding negotiations with Sharad Joshi, he expressed confidence that Sena would win the Khed seat this time.Raj Thackeray refused to answer when asked whether his party was trying to work out a State-level understanding with Sharad Joshi.Queried about reports in a section of press that former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan was likely to contest as a Congress candidate from Mumbai, Thackeray pleaded ignorance. He said the party had not received any response from Seshan after Bal Thackeray's announcement. "We will not wait for Seshan any more," he said.Thackeray said his party would announce candidates for all constituencies within a week and expressed satisfaction that the party had agreed on seat adjustments with the BJP in a cordial atmosphere. He added that the alliance would win 35 to 40 seats in the state. He added that the alliance's performance would not be affected even if the Congress managed to field a single candidate.Thackeray also said that Sonia Gandhi's decision to campaign for Congress would not affect the alliance in any way. He said the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi could never create sympathy after seven years even if Sonia joined the fray.Thackeray criticised Election Commissioner G V Krishnamurthy saying that he was behaving with the party as if he was the leader of the opposition and not the Election Commissioner. Stating that Krishnamurthy's decision had created doubts about his credentials, he said the Sena has taken a step back by submitting the letter that Bal Thackeray would be party chief for five years in view of the elections. "Let the elections finish, we will take two steps," he said.
