BJP leaders Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse, Devendra Fadnavis and Pankaja Munde at a press conference (Press Trust of India photo)
After ending its 25-year alliance with the Shiv Sena, the BJP today announced its "Mission 145" to rival its former ally's "Mission 150", which means the party wants to win at least 145 of the 288 seats in Maharashtra and "form government on our own strength."
Here are the latest developments:
An unattached BJP has dismissed all speculation that it could look at a new partnership with the Nationalist Congress Party or NCP, also newly divorced from the Congress. "Question doesn't arise... reckless argument... we have nothing to do whatsoever with any of these political groups," said BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
BJP leaders met Maharashtra governor CV Rao today and urged him to impose President's Rule in the state as the Congress government is in a minority after the NCP pulled out. The state votes for a new Assembly on October 15.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena split yesterday after days of bickering over seat-sharing. The Shiv Sena, which wanted to contest 151 seats, was described as inflexible by the BJP.
Sources said the BJP will contest about 250 seats and leave the rest for its smaller allies. "Sena couldn't come down under 151 and we couldn't come under 130. It was impossible for us to not give smaller parties their due," said Mr Rudy today.
"They refused to scale down their seats. It was heart-rending to part ways with the Sena," Mr Rudy said. He said the alliance ran out of time; nominations have to be filed tomorrow.
The Shiv Sena has lashed out at the BJP for dumping it. "Our other alliance parties wanted the Sena-BJP combine to continue. More than that, it was what the 11 crore people of Maharashtra wanted. Those who trampled these sentiments are enemies of Maharashtra," the party said in its newspaper Saamna.
The Shiv Sena wants the chief minister's post for its chief Uddhav Thackeray, one of the conditions that the BJP had refused to accept. Uddhav Thackeray will not contest the state elections. Neither will his son Aditya who made his political debut negotiating with the BJP this time. Aditya is underage at 24.
The Congress has already announced a list of 118 candidates - a move that the NCP claims precipitated the end of their partnership, since it was done without consultation.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has also denied the Congress' allegation that it is cosying up to the BJP. "We will fight independently in the coming assembly elections. We will also try to bring in like-minded and secular parties together."
For the first time in decades, the BJP, Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party will contest separately, making it a four-cornered contest in Maharashtra with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS providing the fifth angle.
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