No alliance with BJP ever again, fight begins now: Shiv Sena chief

Ending days of suspense over the possibility of a tie-up with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for civic polls in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said his party will contest the upcoming elections to municipal corporations and zilla parishads on its own.

The talks between the ruling alliance partners BJP and Shiv Sena for the tie-up for all-important Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai had reached a dead-end in the last few days.

"I am ready to go solo, the Shiv Sainiks are ready to go solo. I want strong foot-soldiers with me who have the courage to launch a frontal attack and not back-stab. Once I have taken my decision, I do not want anybody to question it," Thackeray said while addressing a gathering of party workers in Mumbai in the evening.

"If you promise to stand by me, I have taken the decision to go solo in Maharashtra. I will not go to anybody's door with a begging bowl for an alliance and won't be at anybody's mercy. I have decided that there will be no alliance for any of the municipal corporation or zilla parishad polls," Thackeray said.

The decision comes after days of hard bargaining and war of words from both sides. The BJP was demanding 114 of the 227 seats in the BMC, but the Sena was in no mood to give more than 60 to it. The Sena is the senior partner in the alliance in BMC, but the BJP assumes that role when it comes to the state-level ruling coalition.

India’s wealthiest municipal corporation will go to polls on February 21 along with 10 other corporations across Maharashtra. The counting for all the local bodies will be on February 23, after which the fate of major political parties including the BJP, Shiv Sena and Congress would be decided. The state election commission has enforced its code of conduct from Wednesday evening onwards.

That apart, 26 zilla parishads would also go to polls in two phases, on February 16 and February 21, with the results being declared on February 23.

For the municipal corporations, the candidates would have to submit their nominations between January 27 and February 3. On February 7, the candidates can withdraw their nominations, said state election commissioner J.S. Saharia. “The candidates are not supposed to always pay in cash. The limit (born out of note ban) is on cash withdrawal. They must have made their provisions earlier,” the state election commissioner said.