Uddhav Thackeray's party has said it prefer to go it alone in elections
The Shiv Sena will press ahead with its plan to go it alone in the 2019 general elections and the state assembly polls, a party leader has said.
BJP president Amit Shah on Firday had told reporters that he hoped the Uddhav Thackeray-led party will continue to remain in the NDA fold. "They (Sena) are in the government with us now, and it is our strong desire that they remain with us," Mr Shah had said.
The Shiv Sena is currently part of the BJP-led ruling coalitions in Maharashtra as well as at the centre, but it has often criticised both governments' decisions and policies.
Senior Sena leader Subhash Desai has said the BJP has suddenly changed its tone and is now talking about its allies in the NDA.
"Even in 2019, we will form an NDA government though the BJP will win a majority (on its own in Lok Sabha polls)," Mr Shah had said at the press meet.
"The BJP, which all along said it would come to power on its own, is now remembering its friends. Its tone has changed in the past six months. It now talks about the NDA," Mr Desai said at a public meeting in adjoining Thane on Saturday night.
Mr Thackeray was the "most popular" leader in the state and the party, under his leadership, would capture power on its own strength, Mr Desai said.
"The Sena chief has said we will fight the polls alone and all Sainiks should works towards that aim," he said.
A Sena office-bearer said the party has no intention to change its political line of contesting all future polls independently. He said the BJP has a policy of using its allies for political gains and then discarding them.
"In Goa, they (BJP) used Maharashtrawadi Gomatak Party (MGP) to grow and in Maharashtra, it expanded its base with Shiv Sena's help. But the Shiv Sena is not the MGP," said the officer-bearer, who asked not to be named.
The Sena will also have nothing to do with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the office- bearer claimed.