Mumbai, Feb 5 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Sanjay Shirsat on Wednesday said there was no possibility of the BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) joining hands again considering the attacks on PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah by leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
Shirsat, whose party Shiv Sena is an ally of the BJP in the Mahayuti government, maintained the national saffron outfit will not accept those constantly targeting its top leadership.
"The BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) will not come together. The BJP will not accept those who badmouth Modi and Shah," he told reporters in response to a question whether there was any possibility of reconciliation between the two estranged parties.
Moreover, there was no political need for the BJP as well Shiv Sena (UBT) to join hands again, remarked the state social justice minister.
The undivided Shiv Sena and the BJP were allies until the former quit the NDA and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi in 2019 along with the Congress and the united NCP. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party later joined the INDIA bloc, a national-level grouping of opposition parties.
Speculation about the BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) aligning again keeps surfacing in Maharashtra's political circles from time to time.
Late last month, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rejected Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s claim that many leaders from the ruling BJP wish for an alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led opposition party.
Casual meetings should not be interpreted politically, responded Fadnavis to a query by the media after Raut made the assertion following an interaction between BJP minister Chandrakant Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Milind Narvekar in Mumbai.
Raut’s comments came after Narvekar, a Member of the Legislative Council, and Patil had a few jovial exchanges in the presence of Thackeray at the wedding reception of BJP MLA Parag Alavani’s daughter.
In the past, Rajya Sabha MP Raut, considered close to Thackeray, has maintained that some members of the Shiv Sena (UBT) may be harbouring sentiments of partnering with the BJP again. PTI PR RSY