Shiv Sena, BJP lock horns on seat sharing deal

New Delhi: With the Maharashtra Assembly elections approaching, ruling partners — the BJP and Shiv Sena seem to have locked horns over the seat sharing formula.

The BJP, sources said, is unwilling to accept  Sena’s proposal of contesting on equal number of seats and sharing the chief minister’s post.

However, the BJP — the “big brother” in the alliance — is willing to give the deputy chief minister’s post to the Sena, amid speculation that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son and Yuva Sena's chief Aditya Thackeray will make his electoral debut this Assembly polls.

Sources disclosed that the BJP wants both allies to contest the seats they had won during last polls in 2014 and equally distribute the 103 seats which both had lost.

Of these 103 seats, BJP-Sena’s smaller allies will also get their share.

Of the total 288 Assembly berths, the BJP had won 122 and the Sena had won 63 seats last time, when both had contested separately as they had failed to agree on the seat sharing formula.  

Though the Sena had been under pressure from its cadre to push for equal number of seats to contest, the BJP camp is unwilling to accede to its ally’s demand.

A section within the Sena, it was learnt, has even suggested to contest alone if an agreement is not reached over the seat sharing formula.

However, the Sena top brass is also aware of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.