BJP split on ties with Sena, but so is Sena?

Would Shivaji have ever joined hands with his arch enemy Afzal Khan? That’s the question that a certain section of the Shiv Sena is asking its leaders, urging them not to “bend and crawl” only in order to get a toehold in the new government in Maharashtra. Over the weekend, residents of areas such as Sewri in Mumbai woke up to posters urging the Sena to “show some self respect”, which in other words meant — rather sit in opposition than accept the BJP’s terms. The posters were reportedly put up not by miscreants but by a section of the Shiv Sena which didn’t agree with the stand of their party boss of wanting to join the new government. Angry party leaders, of course, ordered the posters to be pulled down, not wanting any further embarrassment. Probably for the first time in its history, the Shiv Sena is hearing voices of dissent from within its cadres.

It’s not just junior Shiv Sainiks who are opposing rumours of the Sena’s willingness to accept the BJP’s terms in the soon-to-be-sworn in government. Former party Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Bharat Kumar Raut took to Twitter to advice the Sena to occupy the opposition benches, saying that the "BJP is trying to push Shiv Sena to a corner as much as possible. Now it's for Uddhav Thackeray to decide how much to bend to come to power" said his tweets that ruffled feathers in his party. While the Sena played down his tweets saying "he is no longer the party spokesperson", Raut’s sentiments are being echoed by several party workers who don’t want to join hands with the enemy. “We ran a bitter campaign and fought elections against the BJP. If we go back and join them, we’ll lose face. It will be obvious that we are desperate to be in power,” says a Sena gatpramukh.

The weekend activity reflects the diverse moods and opinions in a party that once thought and acted as a monolith. What has irked a section of the "sainiks" is the cold shoulder treatment to the party by the BJP, their former ally. The break-up of the two decade old yuti (alliance) and the subsequent assembly election results have reduced the Sena, once the dominant partner, to a party that is being ignored by the state BJP unit.

Only a few weeks ago, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had lashed out at the BJP calling the party its "Enemy No 1" and equated its former ally to “Afzal Khan’s army”. Thackeray had carefully picked on Afzal Khan, the general from Bijapur who continues to be Maharashtra’s most hated enemy for attacking the state’s beloved emperor Shivaji.

With the results giving the BJP a few seats short of the halfway mark, the Sena leadership reportedly decided to bargain hard with its former ally before lending its support. The strategy evidently backfired.

The BJP maintained a stoic silence on the Sena’s conditions for support. Party leaders say that the Sena had demanded equal distribution of ministerial berths, an offer that was shot down by the BJP. The party is not expected to get more than six to eight ministries.

Now playing the role of the Big Brother, the BJP is said to have shot down demands laid down by the Shiv Sena for an equal distribution of ministerial berths. Soon after the results gave the BJP and its allies 123 seats, 11 short of the halfway mark, the Sena chalked out a strategy to bargain hard with its former ally, which it believed, needed the numbers. Angered by the insults and accusations heaped on them by the Sena during the campaign, BJP leaders, however, chose to stay silent on the demands, negotiating with the NCP for outside support.

As the date for the swearing in for the new government approached, a section of the Sena believed that their best bet would be to join the government, even if it meant toeing the BJP’s line this time. After sitting in opposition for 15 years, a section of Sena workers desperately wanted a taste of power. Surviving without power for another five years would be detrimental to the party felt a section of Sena legislators. Having won their seats by good margins, they wanted to be part of the new government. “There is a serious fear of defections from the party if we sit in opposition for five years more. To nip any such dissatisfaction, we must grab whatever we get,” says a Sena worker.

Others believe that the Sena strongly worries about losing the BJP’s support in the BMC with elections to the cash-rich civic body coming up in early 2017. The BMC is a major source of power for the Sena which controls the richest municipal corporation in the country.

Even as the Sena leadership wants a shot at power after a 15 year break, for the first time, the Sena isn’t speaking in a united voice. There is a section of leaders and workers who don’t want to “crawl” and join the BJP-led government, especially after a bitterly fought election against each other. The party leaders, however, fear that two decades of being in the opposition could be a bigger blow to the morale of the party. Either way, the Sena is sure to regret the bitter break-up. And the signs are evident in the different voices that are emerging from the party that once blindly followed their chief Bal Thackeray’s aadesh (command).