The Hindu : National : BJP discusses ties with Shiv Sena

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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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BJP discusses ties with Shiv Sena

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Parliamentary Board discussed at some length the party’s ties with the Shiv Sena that had hit a rough patch during the recent presidential election when the Sena voted for the United Progressive Alliance candidate and now President, Pratibha Patil.

Maharashtra unit president Nitin Gadkari briefed the Board on the current political situation in the State at a meeting here on Thursday evening.

Although officially nothing was said to the press other than that the BJP-Sena relations were discussed, it is learnt that the mood was nothing should be done to rock the alliance boat.

Besides Mr. Gadkari, BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde was also present as were some other party leaders from Maharashtra.

Privately, party leaders have been saying that the BJP understood the political compulsions that led the Sena to take a decision not to support Bhairon Singh Shekhawat since Ms. Patil hailed from Maharashtra.

However, earlier some BJP leaders had been quick to point out that the Sena had supported Mr. Shekhawat against the Congress nominee, Sushil Kumar Shinde, in the vice-presidential poll of 2002.

But, the party also realises that while Mr. Shinde was not the winning candidate as he was not the candidate of the then ruling party, Ms. Patil was a sure winner of the presidential race and, therefore, the Sena could not afford to be seen opposing her.

Goa crisis

Other than Maharashtra, the crisis in Goa was discussed.

Now that some legislators have moved the Supreme Court, the BJP’s strategy seems to be to try and find a legal and constitutional way to force the Congress hands to give up power in Goa.

Immediately after the Parliamentary Board meeting, the party’s Central Election Committee met to finalise candidates for some bypolls. For the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand, the party has decided to give the ticket to Dinesh Sarangi.

The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, B.C. Khanduri, will contest the Dhumakot seat to enter the assembly — he was a Lok Sabha member from Garhwal.

For three assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the party has selected Shiv Bahadur Saxena for Suar Tanda, Gulfam Singh Yadav for the Gunnaur seat, and Ram Babu Dubey for the Farukkabad segment.

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