As alliance with BJP for BMC polls in limbo, Uddhav targets PM

Amid uncertainty over forging an alliance with the BJP for high-stake BMC polls, which were announced today, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has said he has not received any proposal on seat-sharing so far even as he took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sena chief said though he expects the seat-sharing talks to begin today he is also prepared to face any "eventuality".
"Earlier, I used to start my address saying 'bhaiyon aur behno' (brothers and sisters) or 'mitro' (friends), but now I don't use these terms as people have started running away when they hear this. Nowadays, the 'chai wala' is the only one heard speaking," he said without taking Modi's name while addressing a gathering here.

Uddhav's swipe came against the backdrop of outpouring of ridicule on social media against demonetisation of high value currencies announced by PM Modi on November 8 last year.
State Election Commissioner J S Saharia today announced that elections to 10 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, Thane and Pune, will be held on February 21 and to 26 zilla parishad in two phases on February 16 and 21. Counting of votes will be done on February 23.
"I have not received a proposal for seat sharing in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation which goes to polls on February 21 but I expect that seat-sharing talks will start from today.

"Had I been negative about an alliance (with the BJP), I would not have sent party leaders to hold initial parleys. I have a formula on seat sharing but I have received no response as yet," he said.

Uddhav said the decision to partner with BJP for zilla parishad polls will be taken by local leaders.
"If talks do not happen at the earliest, we will have to simply stop somewhere and take a decision," the Sena chief said, adding he is prepared for any "eventuality" as nothing is materialised concretely as yet.
He said, "Gujarati community in Mumbai has been watching since 1992-1993 (when communal riots had taken place in the city) who is backing them and it is very natural that the community will back the Sena now."

Uddhav had yesterday asked the BJP, its senior alliance partner in Central and Maharashtra governments, to clear its stand on sealing the tie-up for civic polls.
Senior BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had said that electoral alliance with BJP will "not be 100 per cent" as local leaderships need to be taken on board.