Shiv Sena MPs boycott launch of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

Move indicates rapprochement won't be possible after BJP snapped ties

All 18 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena on Saturday skipped the launch of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This was the first official function after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 25 broke its 25-year-old alliance with the Sena over sharing of seats in the Assembly elections. The Sena has not yet asked its lone minister Anant Geete to resign from the Modi ministry. Besides, Uddhav has declared that the Sena won’t leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unilaterally, citing it had worked hard for the landmark success in the Lok Sabha polls.

A Sena leader, who did not want to be named, told Business Standard: “We are hurt after the BJP ditched us. Alliance between the Sena and BJP was based on Hindutva. There was no point in party MPs attending the function when relations have become bitter between the two parties. Besides, all MPs are busy in campaign in their respective constituencies.''  He said the rapprochement won't be possible so soon, especially when the BJP severed its ties thinking that the Sena is weak.

The leader said party chief Uddhav Thackeray has already ruled out the possibility of a post-poll alliance with the BJP, in the event of fractured mandate.

The boycott happened at a time when Thackeray is stepping up his attack on Modi on the issue of Maharashtra's bifurcation. He attacked Modi for focusing on Maharashtra polls, when the country is facing crisis at the borders. Thackeray's barbs forced Modi to clarify that he won’t allow division of the state till the time he is the prime minister.

On cross border attacks, Modi said the issue should not be politicised, as the Indian army was giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.

Further, Uddhav blasted BJP president Amit Shah for equating the Sena with a rat. Uddhav said that foreign attackers always mistook people of Maharashtra to mice and they always proved wrong.

“We made a tiger out of a rat and that tiger is now trying to scare us. But now we need to show these rats their place,” Shah had said at a party rally. However, Uddhav taunted Shah that even Afzal Khan had called Chhatrapati Shivaji a ‘rat’, when he attacked Maharashtra in 17th century. “Someone had called us a rat. Even Khan had come with large number of soldiers. Let me remind that despite all that, Shivaji killed him,” Uddhav added.