Amit Shah meets Uddhav; announces tie-up for 2019
February 18, 2019 20:09
BJP president Amit Shah met Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday and following that announced that the two sparring allies will retain the tie-up for the ensuing election.
Addressing the media after their meeting, Maharashtra's CM Devendra Fadnavis said, "We have had our differences, but in terms of ideologies we are alike, hence have stayed together for this long."
He added, "We couldn't stay together during last assembly elections for some reason but for the last 4.5 years, we have stayed together, both in the centre and states."
The BJP will contest 25 and Sena 23 seats in Lok Sabha elections and for the assembly elections, BJP and Shiv Sena will contest half seats each after consulting the smaller allies.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena, who have had a strained relationship for over four years despite being partners in the central and the state government, took the decision a year after the Thackeray-led party passed a resolution to go solo in the forthcoming elections.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the two parties along with their allies had won 42 out of the 48 seats. The BJP had bagged 23 seats, while the Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in 18 constituencies.
The two parties had contested the October 2014 Maharashtra assembly election separately and came together to form government in a post-poll arrangement.
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