Shiv Sena-BJP resume talks in bid to save alliance

TNN, Mumbai :
The Shiv Sena-BJP seemed to have come back from the brink on Friday. Signalling a thaw in the saffron equations, they resumed their seat-sharing negotiations after a gap of six days which had witnessed a show of brinkmanship on both sides. The state BJP sent a fresh seat-sharing proposal for the October 15 assembly polls to Matoshree after the party’s core panel discussed it at a meeting earlier in the day, thus putting the ball in Matoshree’s court.
While BJP declined to reveal details of its latest formula, sources said Sena will get 140 seats, while BJP will contest 130. The remaining 18 seats will go to junior partners. However, this negates Sena’s plan to contest 150 of the total 288 seats, say observers. “This is a major hurdle,” said a Sena functionary.
BJP had earlier said the two allies should contest 135 seats each, while Sena had rejected that demand and said it would like to stick to the 2009 formula of 169 seats for itself and 119 for BJP.
Uddhav Thackeray rang up Om Prakash Mathur, BJP’s poll observer for Maharashtra, after receiving BJP’s new proposal. The Sena president told Mathur that his party was willing to resume talks.