Pramod Mahajan is missed more than ever, in these times of strains in the 22-year-old marriage between his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena. He was credited with single-handedly maintaining and nourishing the relationship, by assuaging the ego of Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

With Mahajan no more — and a frail Thackeray not in the thick of things — the marriage never seemed so stretched in the last 22 years as it is now.

The gap was first recognised way back in 2006, during the run-up to the assembly by-election in Chimur. Sena was interested in contesting the seat but BJP forwarded its claim over the seat and made it a prestige issue. Finally, BJP contested from Chimur but it had to face a huge defeat. The seeds of distrust then has now grown into a full-blown tree.

BJP state leadership has become aggressive and now wants equal status in the alliance. They do not like Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray’s policy to contact BJP stalwart LK Advani over every minute issue regarding the alliance. On the other side, Sena leaders say that Uddhav is the chief of the party so he will obviously talk to his counterpart in the BJP.

If the alliance breaks, Sena will have an option to go with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and BJP may be forced to enter into an alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Tie up with NCP is expected to benefit the Sena. On the contrary, BJP leaders say that they are ready to sit in the opposition for another five years. They claim that BJP cannot grow in the state unless it parts ways with Sena.

An independent political observer said, “Sena and BJP both have their own voters. But in the last 20 years, a large vote bank has been developed in the name of the Sena-BJP alliance. If the alliance does not take place, they could vote for parties other than Sena and BJP. It will adversely effect both the parties.”

Kiran Tare/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication