This Article is From Oct 19, 2014

Maharashtra Results: With BJP Getting an Offer of Support, Sena is Under Pressure

Maharashtra Results: With BJP Getting an Offer of Support, Sena is Under Pressure

Party workers celebrate the BJP's performance in Maharashtra Assembly elections. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: As results are being counted for Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena, recently estranged, are returning to niceties. The BJP will get the most seats, but will need about 25 more to form the government.

Sharad Pawar's NCP says it's ready to help bridge the gap by offering outside support to a BJP government. However, top BJP leaders who appeared in NDTV studios this morning had ruled out a partnership with Mr Pawar. Senior sources in the BJP indicated to NDTV that the Sena, who was their partner for 25 years, is "a natural fit."

"The Shiv Sena is not our opponent... they will always be our friends," said Devendra Fadnavis, who heads the BJP in Maharashtra, to NDTV. BJP veteran LK Advani said he would like to see the BJP and Sena "restore old ties" and volunteered to play go-between.

The BJP's top leaders will meet in Delhi this evening to decide what next. Sources said the party expects the Sena to seek the post of Deputy Chief Minister as well as more ministers in the union government to seal the deal for Maharashtra - terms that are not contentious for the BJP.

Sena spokespersons appearing on NDTV said party chief Uddhav Thackeray will decide on his next step "in Maharashtra's best interest."

The 25-year-old alliance came undone because the BJP insisted that its spectacular showing in the national election meant that it would not accept to be the junior partner in Maharashtra. Mr Thackeray pushed back. In September, the parties split, despite clear signs that after 15 years of co-governance by the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP, Maharashtra would seek a change.

After the split with the BJP in September, Mr Thackeray went on the offensive with a voluminous assortment of acerbic remarks about his former partner, but did not pull his party's minister from the union government, signaling that the break-up was not irreversible.

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