BJP, Shiv Sena reach seat sharing deal, set to announce alliance today

The BJP and Shiv Sena are set to announce their alliance for the coming elections later in the day, Sena leader Sanjay Raut has said. The announcement is set to come in a joint press conference announced by BJP chief Amit Shah and Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray.
The two parties have been locked in heated discussions over the seat sharing formula not just for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that are around the corner but also for the Maharashtra Assembly elections that will follow.
The Sena is learnt to have drawn a line in the sand – the Maharashtra CM post would go to the Shiv Sena if the alliance wins in the Assembly elections. By tying this goal to the negotiations on the seat sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena is attempting to reclaim the senior partner role in its tie-up with the BJP.

The Sena had been humbled in the 2014 Assembly election, which saw the BJP emerge the significantly larger party without the Sena’s support. Since then, the Sena has supported Devednra Fadnavis as CM, and maintained a strained relationship through its constant criticism of the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Sources had earlier told Zee Media that the BJP and Sena are likely to agree to contest 25 and 23 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. Sources also said the seat sharing formula for the Assembly election would entail the BJP and Sena settling for 145 and 143 seats respectively for the Assembly election.
Even as Sena leaders denied last week that a seat sharing formula was close to fruition, the weekend has seen a flurry of activity. Leaders of the two parties have held a spate of meetings with each other, including visits by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and BJP chief Amit Shah to Uddhav Thackeray’s residence.
The deal now seems set on the Shiv Sena’s terms – if you want your PM, we want our CM. parts of the BJP leadership in Maharashtra have also reported being keen to ally with the Sena for the coming elections. That could be because the Congress and NCP are back together, having contested the 2014 Assembly elections independently. The resumption of the opposition alliance could place strains on the returns that the Sena and BJP could expect thanks to the consolidation of the votes of their natural opponents.