Seat sharing row: Alliance crisis deepens: BJP unsatisfied with Uddhav’s formula

Zee Media Bureau :Mumbai: Amidst speculations that the 25-year-old alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena may break, Uddhav Thackeray rolled out a final formula and offered 119 seats to BJP while keeping 151 seats for his own party. Addressing party workers on Sunday, after a meeting of the party’s state executive here, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, “Party workers have given me authority to take a decision and I’ll do it with responsibility, keeping everything in mind. We are making last effort to save the alliance.”Uddhav further admitted that there is a ‘tug of war’ in alliance with the BJP, as the two coalition partners slug it out for more seats in the Assembly elections. “Many faces have been unmasked during polls time, have taken a decision, will announce it soon,” Uddhav added, ANI reported.Shiv Sena chief further made it clear that it won’t make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede 119 out of the total 288 seats in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly scheduled to be held next month, and said this was “the final attempt” to break the logjam over seat-sharing. “Today I am making a final attempt to ensure that the Mahayuti (grand alliance of opposition parties) stays intact. Sena had initially asked for 160 seats. But now we are ready to part with nine seats. Shiv Sena will fight on 151 seats, leaving 119 seats for BJP. The remaining 18 seats will be given to our allies,” he said. “I cannot go any further,” said Thackeray, who addressed his party workers this morning after a meeting of the party’s state executive.”Maharashtra will be the number one state in the country if Sena comes to power. I want power and I will take it at any cost. But this power is to give Maharashtra something and not to take away, like other parties do,” he said.”Everyone knows how terrible the situation was when the Godhra riots took place. Everyone was saying that Modi should be immediately removed from the Gujarat CM’s post. At that time, it was only Balasaheb who told LK Advani that Modi should stay on as he pursues the Hindutva ideology,” he added.