Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray yesterday rejected the BJP’s demand to contest 135 seats in the Maharashtra assembly polls, aggravating the seat-sharing crisis between the two parties. Toughening his stance, Thackeray hinted at the possibility of snapping the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and contesting the elections solo, saying “there is an alternative to everything”.
“The BJP offered a proposal to contest 135 seats and I have rejected it... There is an alternative to everything... I have made it clear that we cannot go beyond a point,” a grim Thackeray told the media.
However, he added that seat-sharing talks were still on and he would not say anything negative about the 25-year-old alliance until a final decision was reached ahead of the October 15 polls.
Thackeray’s assertion came in the wake of his statement two days ago that the next Maharashtra chief minister would be from the Shiv Sena — if the Sena-BJP alliance bagged power. Over the past one month, talks have been stuck over the number of seats to be contested by the BJP and the Shiv Sena.
In 2009, the Shiv Sena contested 169 seats and the BJP 119 in the 288-member assembly. This time, buoyed by the Lok Sabha victory, the BJP demanded 144 seats before scaling it down to 135.
On the seat-sharing talks likely to be completed in two-three days, Thackeray said he was in touch with BJP state president Devendra Fadnavis. IANS
