File photo: BJP chief Amit Shah
Mumbai:
In his first visit to Mumbai on Thursday after becoming the president of the BJP, Amit Shah will attend a meeting of the party's state core committee, give a pep talk to its workers and even participate in the ongoing Ganeshotsav by visiting two of the city's most famous Ganesh mandals.
What seems to be missing from Mr Shah's agenda in Mumbai is a meeting with Uddhav Thackeray, the chief of the Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of the BJP.
Talks between the long-time allies, over which party gets to contest how many seats in the state elections expected to be held next month, have reportedly been deadlocked.
And in what can hardly be a coincidence, Mr Thackeray has called a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The Sena-BJP-led 'Mahayuti' had bagged 42 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats, reducing the Nationalist Congress Party to 4 and the Congress to 2 seats, the ruling alliance's worst-ever performance.
Encouraged by its remarkable success in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has reportedly been insisting on a greater number of seats than it had contested in the 2009 Legislative Assembly polls, when it had fought from 117 seats while the Sena fought in 171 seats.
The Sena is reluctant to yield its turf, say sources in the party, who insist that it is still the "bigger party".
Out of power since 1999, the alliance - comprising several smaller parties and Ramdas Athavale's Republican Party of India -- is expected to perform well in the assembly elections.
Leaders from both parties have repeatedly insisted in public that the issues between them will be sorted out soon.
Sena sources today downplayed Mr Shah's apparent snub, saying, "It is for Amit Shah to decide if he wants to meet Uddhav. And it for all to see who is behaving inappropriately".
What seems to be missing from Mr Shah's agenda in Mumbai is a meeting with Uddhav Thackeray, the chief of the Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of the BJP.
Talks between the long-time allies, over which party gets to contest how many seats in the state elections expected to be held next month, have reportedly been deadlocked.
And in what can hardly be a coincidence, Mr Thackeray has called a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The Sena-BJP-led 'Mahayuti' had bagged 42 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats, reducing the Nationalist Congress Party to 4 and the Congress to 2 seats, the ruling alliance's worst-ever performance.
Encouraged by its remarkable success in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has reportedly been insisting on a greater number of seats than it had contested in the 2009 Legislative Assembly polls, when it had fought from 117 seats while the Sena fought in 171 seats.
The Sena is reluctant to yield its turf, say sources in the party, who insist that it is still the "bigger party".
Out of power since 1999, the alliance - comprising several smaller parties and Ramdas Athavale's Republican Party of India -- is expected to perform well in the assembly elections.
Leaders from both parties have repeatedly insisted in public that the issues between them will be sorted out soon.
Sena sources today downplayed Mr Shah's apparent snub, saying, "It is for Amit Shah to decide if he wants to meet Uddhav. And it for all to see who is behaving inappropriately".
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