Shiv Sena And BJP at Loggerheads, Lok Sabha MP Complains to Shah

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena leader and sitting Lok Sabha member Chandrakant Khaire has complained to Bharatiya Janata Party chief against Amit Shah against the Maharashtra BJP president Rauosaheb Danve for working against the alliance in the Lok Sabha election.

Khaire met Amit Shah and told him that Danve had helped his son- in- law Harshvardhan Jadhav, a Shiv Sena rebel who formed the Shiv Swarjya Paksha a few months before the Lok Sabha polls. This was confirmed both by the Shiv Sena and BJP leaders to The Citizen.

Danve,a former Union Minister is also contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Jalna.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena have not been on good terms in Maharasthra partly due to local divisions but more because of the Shiv Sena’s sustained attack on the BJP top brass, in particular Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Shiv Sena leaders used their party mouthpiece to launch what was seen as a vitriolic attack on the BJP on all issues, including Rafale and Ram Mandir.

For Khaire, a four term MP, this is the toughest election he has fought since 1990.This is because he now faces a tough challenge in his constituency from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi led by Bharatiya Republic Paksh leader Prakash Ambedkar and the All India Majlis –e- Ittehadul Muslimeen led by Asaduddin Owaisi and Harshvardhan Jadhav who was very active in the agitation for Maratha reservation. Ambedkar and Owaisi are fielding joint candidates in the state in these parliamentary elections.

Though the BJP leaders are predicting Khaire’s victory he has not got the needed help from the ally, with the RSS and local BJP leaders keeping a distance. This was evident in the election meetings addressed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for Khaire’s victory with the BJP absence being felt.

Khaire told this reporter that he had conveyed this lack of support to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as well.

The relations between the BJP and the Shiv Sena have not been cordial even though they are sharing power in the state and at the Centre. There is deep distrust, that is evident in the campaign across the state.

In Mumbai the Shiv Sena is finding it difficult to gain the confidence of Gujaratis and north Indians who are opposed to its discriminatory “son of the soil” slogan. The alliance that was already strained before the elections could break, Shiv Sena leaders predict, if both the parties receive a set back in these parliamentary polls in the state.

This formal complaint by Khaire is the first official confirmation of reports across constituencies that the cadres of the allies are not supporting each others candidates.