MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJP President Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday said Hindutva is in the blood of both his party and the Shiv Sena and the two parties should come together to form the government.
Patil’s statement came against the backdrop of a similar statement made by former Maharashtra CM and senior Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi.
“The BJP and the Shiv Sena have been natural allies for the last 30 years. Their blood and Hindutva are common. The parties should come together and form a government. The government (in Maharashtra) should have been formed jointly because the popular mandate was in favour of both the parties,” Patil said when asked about the possibility of the two parties coming together again.
However, when asked to comment on Joshi’s statement, the BJP leader said he didn’t have any idea about what the Sena leader had said.
“I do not have any idea about it but yes there is optimism. This (demands for a reunion between the Sena and the BJP) is just optimism. I do not know if it (a re-alliance) will work or not,” Patil said.
When asked if doors are still open for the discussions with the Shiv Sena, Patil said, “doors were open at that time also.”
“We did not have any ego that time (after the results of the assembly elections were announced on October 24) but we were not allowed (to proceed),” he said, putting the blame on the Shiv Sena.
Joshi, on Tuesday, had expressed the possibility of Shiv Sena going with its former ally BJP once again.
“Instead of fighting over small issues, it is better to tolerate some things. It is good to share issues that you feel strongly about. If both parties work together, it is beneficial for both,” Joshi had said on Tuesday while referring to the discord between the Shiv Sena and the Congress over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB).
He also said, “It is not that Shiv Sena will never go with the BJP again. Uddhav Thackeray will take the right decision at the right time.”
Shiv Sena spokespersons, however, distanced themselves from Joshi’s statement saying that it is his personal stand and has nothing to do with the party’s official stand.
Over a month after the assembly poll results where the BJP got 105 seats and the Shiv Sena 56, the latter decided to go with the NCP and the Congress to form a government in Maharashtra. After being allies for 30 years, the BJP and Shiv Sena fell out over the issue of sharing the CM’s post.