The Shiv Sena, which is an ally of the National Democratic Front, on Wednesday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s stand on the government formation in Jharkhand. Sena chief Bal Thackeray alleged that “dirty things” were going on in the state of Jharkhand.
The relationship between the BJP and the Sena had strained after the Kulgaon-Badlapur Municipal Council president election. BJP had joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for the election, defeating the Sena’s Waman Mhatre. Shridhar Patil of the NCP was elected deputy president.
The party’s troubled relations with its ally was reflected in Mr Thackeray’s editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna on Wednesday. The Sena chief said, “Despite being the alliance partner with the BJP, ‘Mahatma’ Shibu Soren voted in favour of the Congress in Parliament. The BJP pretended to withdraw support to his government in Jharkhand. However, Mr Soren is still the chief minister with the BJP’s support. Such dirty things are happening in Jharkhand. The BJP also broke the magalsutra of loyalty in Badlapur.”
The Sena chief also dismissed the BJP’s contention that the party was not happy with the Sena’s choice of candidate for the post of KBMC president. “If they had problems with the candidate, we could have easily changed. But as alliance partner the Sena never asked that BJP change its candidate for Prime Minister or post of Opposition leader,” Mr Thackeray wrote.
The BJP refused to accept that the editorial was written by Mr Thackeray. BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “We think that the editorial was written by some person in the newspaper’s editorial team. But we respect it assuming that Balasaheb wrote it. Such adjustments have always happened in local politics. In the past, the Sena joined the NCP in Malegaon and Akola.”