Shiv Sena, BJP call truce, resume deadlocked seat-sharing talks

Facing the media together for the first time in several days, senior Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Tuesday said the two parties were "firm" on continuing the alliance as they resumed the deadlocked seat-sharing talks for Maharashtra assembly polls.

Top state leaders of the two oldest National Democratic Alliance allies sat down for talks ending a tense stand-off, a day after BJP president Amit Shah called up Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in a bid to pull back the 25-year-old alliance from the brink of disintegration.

The BJP had on Monday given a fresh proposal to the Sena, seeking for itself 130 of the state's 288 seats, a marginal climbdown from its earlier demand for 135, which its saffron ally had summarily rejected.

In an earlier proposal, the BJP had suggested that the two major constituents of 'Mahayuti', a rainbow alliance of six parties, contest 135 seats each, leaving the rest for smaller partners which too had been trashed by Shiv Sena.

Senior Shiv Sena leaders including party Member of Parliament and spokesman Sanjay Raut, its leader in the Legislative Assembly Subhash Desai and Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai drove down to BJP office in Dadar for the meeting, in an apparent softening of the party's stand after Uddhav's "final offer" of 119 seats to the BJP on Sunday.

The BJP's Maharashtra election in-charge O P Mathur, state President Devendra Fadvanis, Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde, leaders of opposition in the assembly and legislative council respectively, were among those involved in the talks.

"Both parties today agreed that the alliance should remain. Both parties are firm that the old alliance should continue," Raut told mediapersons after the meeting.

"A new proposal came up on Tuesday and it will be discussed with our other alliance partners later today," he said.

Tawde said neither party wanted the alliance to break. "It is the desire of the Shiv Sena and the BJP that the alliance continues. No leader from either party wants the 25-year-old alliance to break," he said.

Tawde said a new seat-sharing formula was discussed but did not disclose the details. "A final decision will be taken by this evening after consulting our 'Mahayuti' allies," he said.

Though there was no official word from either of them, the buzz was that the Shiv Sena was agreeable to the BJP's proposal of 130 seats but did not want its quota of 151 seats proposed by Uddhav to be slashed.

If agreed upon finally, it would leave the smaller 'Mahayuti' allies with just 7 seats to contest and the two major partners would have a tough time convincing them to accept it. Other allies of 'Mahayuti' are -- Republican Party of India (Athawale), Rashtriya

Samaj Paksh, Swabhimani Shetkari Paksh and Shiv Sangram. Blowing hot and cold yesterday, BJP general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Rajiv Pratap Rudy had said, "We are very keen that the alliance exists" but was prepared to contest all 288 seats "compelled" to break ties with the Shiv Sena.

Photograph: (from left) Senior Shiv Sena leaders including party Member of Parliament and spokesman Sanjay Raut with the BJP’s Vinod Tawde