Bad days have begun for BJP, says K.C Tyagi

Taking a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it made a formal announcement to end its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, Janata Dal (United) leader K.C. Tyagi on Thursday said the bad days have begun for the ruling party at the Centre.

"The bad days have begun for the BJP and this is going to benefit all the other parties," said Tyagi.

The alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena ended earlier this evening with the former alleging that the latter was only concerned with the Chief Minister's post and its quota of seats.

Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadnavis said, "In the issue of the allocation of seats in Maharashtra, there was not much difference in the Shiv Sena's earlier and new proposal. The Shiv Sena was only concerned with the Chief Minister's post and their quota of seats."

Fadnavis also alleged that the Shiv Sena wanted to cut out the smaller parties out of the alliance in the polls.

"We had a view that our smaller allies must be kept with us, but the Shiv Sena was adamant about their proposal of seats, which could not have been possible with the smaller parties," he said.

Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who was also present during the press briefing, said that the Shiv Sena never gave a suitable proposal.

"With the number of seats they wanted, we could not accommodate our allies. Many proposals were discussed between the two parties, but keeping in view the time constraint to file the names of candidates, the BJP core committee has decided to end our 25 year old alliance with the Shiv Sena. The BJP will now take steps towards a Congress-free Maharashtra on its own," said Fadnavis.

"We have made our alliance with Shiv Sangram, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) and Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS)," he added.

Maharashtra will go to polls on October 15 while the counting of votes will take place on October 18. There are 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.