Uddhav says Raj cannot join BJP-Sena alliance

Solapur: Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray has dashed the BJP's hopes of a three-way alliance in Maharashtra.

Earlier this week, at the BJP state executive meeting, General Secretary Gopinath Munde had suggested that the BJP and Shiv Sena add Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as a partner.  

"The saffron alliance between the BJP and Shiv Sena will continue and there is no room for the third party in it", said Uddhav Thackeray today.

Raj and Uddhav have been fighting a public war since 2005, when Raj quit the Shiv Sena to form the MNS. Since then, Raj Thackeray has stolen a considerable share of the Sena's votebank, particularly in cities like Mumbai and Nashik.

Mr Munde had said that a tripartite alliance was the need of the hour. "In the previous Assembly elections, if you combine the vote share of 53 seats of the MNS and the Shiv Sena-BJP, we would have been ahead of the Congress-NCP alliance. It's difficult for us and the MNS to come together, but nothing is impossible in politics. Gopinath Munde can turn the impossible into possible," he declared.