BJP Could Not Expand Base In Maharashtra Earlier Due To Shiv Sena Alliance: Devendra Fadnavis

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said his party could not expand its support base in Maharashtra earlier because it was in an alliance with the Shiv Sena, but post break-up will form its own government after the next state elections.

Now that the Shiv Sena has snapped ties with the BJP and formed a government with the Congress and the NCP, the BJP has a golden opportunity to further expand its mass base in the state, the Leader of Opposition in the assembly said.

He was speaking here after Shiv Sena leader from Pune district Asha Buchake joined the BJP in the presence of the party's state unit president, Chandrakant Patil.

"The BJP could not expand earlier in the state because we were in an alliance (with the Shiv Sena). Now, three parties are in power and the BJP has a golden opportunity to expand itself at the state-level," Mr Fadnavis said. 

The BJP will form its own government in the next assembly elections (due in 2024), the former chief minister said.

"All the three parties that are in power are feeling suffocated now. It is a welcome move that Asha Buchake, who is from a party in the ruling coalition, is joining the BJP," he said.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena first entered into an alliance in the late 1980s at Maharashtra and national levels. The alliance was temporarily broken in 2014 when both parties fought the assembly elections that year separately.

In late 2014, the Shiv Sena joined the BJP government formed under the leadership of Mr Fadnavis and both parties fought the 2019 assembly polls together.

However, in November 2019, the Shiv Sena walked out of the alliance with the BJP over differences on sharing power, and joined hands with the Congress and the NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.