Mumbai | Shiv Sena and Bharitya Janta Party (BJP) who are having an on and off relationship after the 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls are likely to announce their alliance for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls today
According to sources, out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, BJP will be contesting on 25 seats while Shiv Sena will contest on 23 seats. Meanwhile for the seat sharing for the assembly polls has found an obstruction as Sena has put forward a claim for the post of Chief Minister while BJP wants to contest on an equal number of seats in the assembly polls.
BJP president Amit Shah will be meeting Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray today in Mumbai and likely to announce the alliance in a joint press conference. The alliance with Shiv Sena is crucial for BJP as the Lok Sabha polls are around the corner and BJP wants to keep its allies together after its performance in the recent assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Also various pre-2014 allies of BJP like Telegu Desam Party (TDP), Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) have left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP won 23 seats while Shiv Sena emerged victorious on 18 seats. However, in the assembly polls which were held just months before the Lok Sabha election both the parties contested single-handedly. BJP emerged as the single largest party with 122 seats while Shiv Sena won 63 seats.
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