The Shiv Sena is upset with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) despite the fact that it is part of the BJP-led coalition government in Maharashtra and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Delhi.
On the eve of the Monsoon session of Parliament, the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, has been attacking the BJP for ignoring the NDA constituents while running the NDA government in Delhi. The question being discussed in political circles is whether it is just a part of pressure tactics by the Shiv Sena or whether it is really unhappy over the way NDA government is framing policies and rules, ignoring its partners.
The Sena has been upset since it lost its big brother position in Maharashtra during the assembly elections and took its own time to join the BJP led government in the state. The party was also not very happy with the kind of portfolio it got when Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted his cabinet and expanded it to include representatives of NDA partners. Though the BJP has adequate numerical strength in Lok Sabha to run the government, it has given a share of power to its NDA partners to make things easier in the upper house.
The Sena put pressure on the BJP to convene the NDA meeting so that some of the major issues could be discussed and resolved, including the contentious Land Acquisition Bill. Anyway, the NDA meeting is normally held on the eve of Parliament session. PM Narendra Modi convened the NDA meeting which was attended by the Shiv Sena as well as the Akali Dal. Both the parties have remained political allies of the BJP, despite many contentious issues facing the country. Both the parties remained partners during the last 10 years, when the BJP was the main opposition party in the country.
The Sena does not hesitate to oppose some of the BJP policies openly, thus creating an embarrassing situation. The Sena points out that the constituents of the ruling alliance used to meet regularly during the tenure of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to sort out differences among NDA partners. However, during the new regime, these coordination meetings have become rare, creating lots of contradictions and controversies.
The real reason why the Sena is upset with the BJP is not because of the BJP’s “Congress Mukta Bharat” programme, but it feels that during the process, smaller regional parties that have political understanding with the BJP may be affected. The BJP’s programme to increase its influence in the states might be achieved at the cost of the smaller NDA partners. The Sena, in fact, is sulking not knowing what exactly it should do when the real strength of the BJP in the state has increased over the year. The BJP is already the single largest party in Maharashtra. Many believe that unless the Devendra Fadnavis government performs well by giving relief to drought affected farmers, the BJP base achieved on the basis of the Narendra Modi factor may dwindle fast.
The Sena feels that if the BJP wants support from the NDA partners during the Monsoon session of Parliament, then the BJP must take allies into confidence to fine tune strategy to counter the Congress-led opposition attack on various burning issues. The party has been complaining that it is never taken into confidence when the government formulates its policies on contentious issues. There is also a section within the Shiv Sena which feels that it must keep its separate identity and adopt policies from time to time. The Sena has to show that it does not merely comply blindly whatever policies are adopted by the BJP at the union as well as the state level. The Sena is more worried about the oncoming civic elections in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The party wants to keep a distance from the BJP so that the anti-incumbency factor does not affect its chances in the civic elections.
The BJP is not convinced by the occasional outburst by the Shiv Sena over many contentious issues. The state unit of the BJP appears to have been convinced that the Shiv Sena is preparing a strategy to go alone in the coming BMC elections like it did during the assembly elections. The BJP city unit has been asked to prepare for BMC elections with an assumption that the party will be going alone for the civic polls. During 15-year rule of the state by the Congress-NCP alliance, the NCP, which was the junior partner, also used to throw tantrums to ensure its share of power. However, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar used it in a very subtle way. He maintained good relations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi while attacking the Congress chief minister in the state.
The Shiv Sena is much more aggressive. The attack it launches is sometimes more pointed than criticism by the opposition alliance of the Congress-NCP. Unlike NCP, the Shiv Sena’s attack on the BJP government in the state is more sustained and continuous. The BJP has come under attack for its recent tie up with the Congress for seizing power in Gondia Zilla Parishad. The Sena has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial aid to Mongolia. Farmers’ suicides, land acquisition bill, nuclear power plant in Konkan are some of the pet issues highlighted by the Sena to attack the BJP government.
As a result, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance relations have become strained. NCP president Sharad Pawar has already predicted that the government alliance in the state will collapse within a year. However, there does not appear to be immediate trouble to the state government as both the parties would not like to create instability in the state. Even if the Shiv Sena wants to go on its own in the civic poll, it may not go all the way just to walk out of the government. In fact, most of the local self-government body elections are contested by setting up panels. Most of the political parties find it difficult to control local level politics, which has its own dynamics, where party lines blur and local preferences and factionalism takes over. That is why in local bodies one finds strange arrangements where BJP workers join hands with their Congress counterparts or the NCP is comfortable with Sena activists.
The BMC elections are different in nature and more prestigious where the political parties vie to dominate. In fact Shiv Sena’s basic support base and strength is depending on holding on to power in the BMC. Neither the Shiv Sena nor the BJP can afford to break their ties at this juncture and make state government unstable.