BJP leaders Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse, Devendra Fadnavis and Pankaja Munde at a press conference (Press Trust of India photo)
It's the morning after it said good-bye to the Shiv Sena, and an unshackled BJP is reportedly ready to announce its first list of 190 candidates for the Maharashtra elections to be held on October 15. Sources said the party will contest about 250 of the 288 seats and leave the rest for its smaller allies.
Here are the latest developments:
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the last day to file nominations and all parties are now scurrying to finalise candidates. 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.
On Thursday, the BJP announced that it was ending its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena as they could not agree on seat-sharing. Barely an hour later, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party announced that it was splitting with the Congress, with which it has ruled Maharashtra for the last 15 years, also over seats.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has questioned the timing of the two break-ups, insinuating that the NCP is in talks with the BJP and is looking at post-election re-alignments, both in the state and at the Centre, where the BJP is in power. (Read)
Both the BJP and the NCP have stoutly denied this. "Why should there be an alliance with NCP?" said BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
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 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. But 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 under-age at 24.
Raj Thackeray, who has announced a list of 153 candidates, will also not contest the state elections.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP will file nomination in Baramati today. The BJP state unit chief Devendra Phadnavis will file his papers from Nagpur.
The Congress has said it will partner with the Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra. The NCP could ally with the Left parties, sources have said.
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