MUMBAI: Over past few years, the BJP has mastered the art of winning over new allies. It now has more allies than it ever had before, BJP National Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has said.
Sahasrabuddhe, who participated in the ‘Meet the Press' programme organised by the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Thursday said that though some of the BJP's allies appear to have drifted away, they would come back once they realised the principled stand of the BJP.
"During Vajpayee's era, BJP had around two dozen allies. But now in North East India, most of the small parties have joined hands with the BJP. This has taken the number of our allies to 65," Sahasrabuddhe pointed out.
While explaining the party's stand on Telugu Desam quitting NDA, Sahasrabuddhe said, “While the government is bound by the Finance Commission's report to not grant special status to any state, the party took a principled stand to not let political compulsions supersede the constitutional institutions and influence the decisions on a national level. The allies who realise the importance of this decision would come back to us."