BJP President Amit Shah said on Sunday that if Shiv Sena fought the elections as NDA alliance partners, they would be victorious.
However, he added, if it doesn’t choose to go for the alliance, then BJP would defeat Sena hands down and win 40 out 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
Earlier, reacting to reports that Sena had told party MPs to be ready to go solo, Shiv Sena had said that nobody gave ultimatums to them.
A day after BJP chief Amit Shah reportedly asked party MPs to be ready to go solo in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said nobody gives an ultimatum to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
A BJP MP, who was part of a meeting held in Delhi Thursday, had said Shah informed them that efforts to forge an alliance with the Sena were on, but if they did not succeed, the MPs should be prepared to fight the polls alone in the state.
“What happened in an internal meeting of the BJP, behind closed doors, is their business. However, the Shiv Sena doesn’t heed anybody’s ultimatum,” Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, said.
BJP is in alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and at the Centre. The Sena has been critical of BJP, and its leaders have spoken of contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone.
Also Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday described the controversial Rafale deal as the “father of Bofors” and said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s importance in the country’s politics had increased after repeatedly speaking against the deal.
