Amit Shah heads towards Shiv Sena for damage control

Amit Shah in a quest to save the bent NDA-alliance ties reaches Matoshri in the hope that the damage done can be curtained ahead of 2019 elections

The Yuti voters in 2014 saw a stage set in Maharashtra, when the two parties, Shiv Sena and BJP came together as allies and campaigned for the Lok Sabha election. For the masses, the alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena meant more than just an ordinary alliance formed by two political parties. The voters saw two ideologically similar parties coming together and appealed to their conscience. Even though the close doored, hush-hush meetings pointed towards a strained relationship of more than two-decade-old allies, in 2014, the two parties came together in unison. However, four years down the line, the relationship of these parties has bent over backwards so much, that it has baffled the voters. The parties that swore by each other once are not even ready to meet eyes. However, BJP national president Amit Shah is trying to change that.

All about power?

While campaigning in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha election in 2014, the audience of the rallies were witness to a stage on which Shiv Sena shared the stature of the ‘big brother’. Soon after the general elections, the parties snapped their ties ahead of the Assembly elections. The reason being, a seat-sharing conflict as BJP tried to assert the position of ‘big brother’. The parties led fierce campaigns against each other but the voters were made to believe that everything is well in the hood. The parties came together after the polls and all the alleged rumours of differences between the allies were swept under the carpet. However, now the fight is out in the open and is uglier than ever.

After the Mira-Bhayander election last year, the allies once again faced off in the by-polls of Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia which were held on 28^th May. The by-polls was seen as the ultimate battleground for the two parties. Right before the election, Shiv Sena even released an audio clip of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saying that the party should use “Saam, daam, dand and bhed” to win the by-polls. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis retorting back, said, “Our ally (on one hand) was welcoming our decision to give a ticket to the Wanga family and on the other hand hatching a conspiracy,” at a campaign rally in Palghar. Though BJP won the election, it lost its long-standing ally.

BJP wakes up to a crisis

Miffed by the treatment meted out to it by BJP, Shiv Sena finally declared that it will “contest elections alone in 2019.” Not only Shiv Sena, but Shiromani Akali Dal is seemingly upset about the way BJP has conducted their demeanour after the election. Talking about the drive of BJP to reach-out to its allies, a senior member of Shiromani Akali Dal said, “BJP leaders asked for a meeting so we have agreed for the meeting. There is no question of discussion on Lok Sabha seat-sharing in Punjab. SAD is the senior partner and there would be no change in the existing seat-sharing arrangement.” The SAD leaders asserted that BJP, after the election did not pay attention to its allies or take any suggestions from them. “The BJP has been losing by-polls in several states. That is the only reason why they are reaching out to NDA partners. It’s been four years of this government but there has been no attempt to meet or discuss strategies with any NDA member,” the SAD leader added. Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP exited from the NDA alliance, earlier this year over the issue of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. This was more than just an indication towards the rising discontent among the NDA allies.

Crisis management?

BJP, after waking up to the alarming crisis of its allies being profusely upset with it, is trying to prevent a possible crisis. The feud between the state BJP leaders with Shiv Sena has compelled the central leaders to take a crisis management call. BJP national president, Amit Shah is in Mumbai today to meet its vexed ally, Shiv Sena. The aim of the meeting is to soothe out the burnt relations between the parties and possibly mend them. However, Shiv Sena is in no mood to back down from its stance of contesting the elections alone. Ahead of this meeting, between Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackrey, an editorial in Saamana made a scathing remark saying, “Ties between the people and the BJP have snapped…for the BJP, relationships are business calculations.” This remarks just goes on to put light on the fact that the damage is already been done and is beyond repair.

Moreover, this isn’t the only ‘crisis management’ meeting BJP is planning. BJP has also approached its allies in Punjab for a possible meeting. With this attempt, the party is hoping to come to a general consensus among its NDA allies.

Also read: From then to now, the intriguing tale of these guru-shishya, Advani and Modi

Mockery of the people’s mandate

The Shiv Sena- BJP alliance that came to power in Maharashtra will be known more for the internal tiffs than the work they’ve done for the development of Maharashtra. The practice of passing continuous jibes at each other, the empty threats of exiting and coming back in the alliance looks no less than the mockery of the people who have voted for the Yuti. The voters have been curtailed to just being a pawn in the hands of the political leaders.

The parties are so self-involved in the inter-alliance fights that they forget about the promises they had made to the people. They almost side-line the real issues that are to be dealt with, like governance and development of the state. The by-polls were a prime example of how the current elections are contested on the basis of putting the opponent down and not on the agenda of development. The campaigns of BJP and Shiv Sena were filled with only rhetoric and jibes.

When two or more parties come together and form an alliance, it is majorly because they have similar ideological paths. People voted for the alliance because they had faith in the collective ideology represented by both the parties. When these parties, after achieving their goal- winning the election, split; they do not merely dump each other, they dump people’s mandate. They let the people down who believed in them. Shiv Sena and BJP are also in this context no different from the others.