Mumbai:
In election-bound Maharashtra, BJP ally Shiv Sena has suggested that they must not rely "only on a Modi wave" to win them the state.
The Sena warning comes in an editorial in its magazine Saamna, the morning after the BJP was shocked by a below par performance in by-elections in four states.
The party, which rules at the Centre, was bested in Bihar by the new mega alliance of Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar and the Congress. In Karnataka, it lost a sure seat, Bellary Rural, to the Congress and even ceded a seat to that party in Madhya Pradesh, which it has swept in multiple elections recently. Of 18 seats, the Congress won 10, the BJP won seven and its ally, the Akali Dal one.
The Sena said today, "We have to accept that the RJD-JDU-Congress combine won six seats while the BJP could win only four. People have shown that there is a difference between Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. This difference should be taken very seriously."
It also said that their alliance of five parties in Maharashtra - called the Mahayuti - needs to "pull up its socks" for the state elections due in October. They hope to wrest the state from the Congress-NCP combine that has ruled for the last 15 years.
"People want a change of power in Maharashtra. But we cannot win elections by only talking about winning. (Narendra) Modi has been given a strong mandate to head the country. But the factors that come into play during state elections are different," it said.
The Sena warning comes just as the two partners head into discussions over seat sharing in Maharashtra. The BJP has suggested that it can be the junior partner in the state no more, in view of its colossal victory in the national elections three months ago. The party has suggested that the allies should contest an equal number of the 288 Assembly seats.
The Sena is loath to give in and will clearly use the by-election results to rebut the BJP on its demand.