BJP To Dump Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, To Go It Alone In 2019

Having put up with the tantrums of the Shiv Sena and its chief, the BJP has decided to go it alone in next elections.

Mumbai: Having had enough of the insults and tantrums put up by the Shiv Sena and its chief Uddhav Thackeray, the BJP in Maharashtra has decided to go it alone and contest all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the 2019 elections.

For over a year, Uddhav has been trying to imitate his father, the late Bal Thackeray, by trying to show that the BJP is a smaller player. But now things are different.

BJP president Amit Shah has instructed the BJP’s Maharashtra unit to start preparations for all the 48 Lok Sabha seats and 288 Assembly seats in the state, sources said.

This is a correct decision. Instead of accommodating the bloated ego of Uddhav, the BJP should take pride in going it alone even if it means a slight loss here and there.

Recently, Uddhav had refused to answer calls of Amit Shah before the no-confidence voting was to take place. The Sena abstained and the next day the party had the audacity to congratulate Rahul Gandhi for his speech in the Lok Sabha while deriding Modi.

All these are insults and the Sena should be shown its place. The Shiv Sena has, of late, become a party of thugs and extortionists. Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray’s nephew, is no different. He too does not lose any opportunity to insult the BJP and Modi.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats and bagged 123 Assembly seats. The party’s plan is to take measures to keep seats it had won intact, while putting in greater efforts to change the equations in seats held by the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, besides smaller parties and independents.

It was decided that an able party leader will take charge of each Lok Sabha seat, which means 48 point persons would be entrusted with the task of expansion of the organisation. The party termed these leaders as “vistaraks”. A similar model would be followed across 288 Assembly seats as well.