Shinde faction MP says BJP doesn't treat them as alliance partner

MUMBAI: In a sign that all is not well between the BJP and Shiv Sena, the Eknath Shinde-supporter MP Gajanan Kirtikar has accused the saffron party of giving step motherly treatment to his party. We are not being treated as an alliance partner by the BJP, he said.

We are getting step-motherly treatment from the BJP despite being the alliance partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said Kirtikar, an MP from Mumbai North-West.

“Earlier, we (undivided Shiv Sena) were not a part of the NDA. But 13 Sena MPs decided to support Eknath Shinde and go with the BJP. Hence, we demand that we should be given a status of the alliance partner and our works should be done at the earliest. But our MPs are getting the step-motherly treatment from the BJP,” he added.

The veteran MP also staked claim on the 22 seats contested by the Shiv Sena in 2019 Lok Sabha polls saying that the seat-sharing arrangement between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP will be the same as that in five years ago.

The Sena, which was then undivided, and the BJP had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance.

“Shiv Sena contested 22 seats (out of 48) last time and won 18, and BJP contested 26 and won 23. The arrangement will be the same this time. We have already started preparations (for the 2024 polls),” Kirtikar said.

Of 18 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena from Maharashtra, 13 owe allegiance to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and five belong to the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction.

Shinde, while speaking in Shirdi, said that nothing has been decided on the seat-sharing yet. “Shiv Sena and BJP are friends for many years. There is still time for elections and everything will be decided in due course,” he said.

Senior BJP leader and DCM Devendra Fadnavis refuted Kirtikar’a allegations of step-mothering treatment saying the charges of imaginary. No such kind of thing has happened, he said in Shirdi.