PTI, MUMBAI: Amid strains in their ties, the Shiv Sena Monday said it is the “big brother” in the alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra and will remain so, an assertion that could cast a shadow on sharing of seats between the NDA partners for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Reacting to Shiv Sena’s assertion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP does want an alliance with the Sena but was not desperate for a tie-up.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting chaired by party chief Uddhav Thackeray, the Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP and chief whip in Parliament, Sanjay Raut, said the party also wanted the income tax exemption threshold to be raised from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.
“Shiv Sena is the big brother (in the alliance with BJP and other parties) in Maharashtra and will continue to be so,” Raut asserted.
“There is no proposal from the BJP to form any alliance with the Shiv Sena. Those who wish to forge an alliance with us are talking about it. We are not waiting for any proposal to be offered to us,” he added.
Till 2014, the BJP and Sena, allies for long, had an understanding under which the former would contest a larger share of Lok Sabha seats and the latter would get a greater number of Maharashtra Assembly seats to fight.
In this way, both parties donned the role of elder and younger sibling in the general and state polls in their political “brotherhood”.
