Arvind Sawant quits, BJP loses its oldest ally
The Sena was forced to become the junior partner as the BJP won 122 seats in the 288-member assembly while it won 63.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena has finally quit the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its lone minister Arvind Sawant tendered his resignation on Monday.
He alleged that the BJP was resorting to “lies” by denying the agreement between the leaders of the two allies and said there was no trust left with its alliance partner.
The Sena’s lone minister minister in the Modi Cabinet took to Twitter to announce his decision, a day after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari invited his party to stake claim to form government in the state.
The BJP on Monday lost its oldest and the only major Hindutva ally as the Shiv Sena, its partner for more than three decades, walked out of the Modi government at the Centre.
The divorce between the two parties wedded to the Hindutva ideology finally happened after an acrimonious relationship over the last five years. The first strains in their ties surfaced in the 2014 Assembly polls when they fought separately after the Sena’s refusal to part with the number of seats the BJP wanted.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP to an unprecedented win in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it sensed an opening in Maharashtra to oust Sena from the position of senior ally, a position the party founded by Bal Thackeray had enjoyed till his reign.
The Sena was forced to become the junior partner as the BJP won 122 seats in the 288-member assembly while it won 63.
The BJP in the last few years lost a major ally like TD but also gained a big regional partner like AIADMK. — PTI