Mumbai:
Days after sealing the seat-sharing deal in Maharashtra for upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena organised a joint party workers' meet. In the meet - at Amravati city of Vidharba, Maharashtra – both the parties asked their workers to put the 4.5-year-long differences and misunderstanding behind and work together to win the maximum number of seats.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, while addressing workers of both the parties - said that it was the right time to forget the ups and downs between the alliance partners in recent times both in mind and heart.
“We have joined hands to safeguard Hindutva and this won't be possible just by merely joining hands, or just taking the saffron flag in hand or by shouting slogans. We all need to forget the past differences and work together so that we win the 2019 general election. If Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was present today, he would have severely punished us by pushing all of us from a mountain cliff if we betrayed the alliance," Udhav Thackeray was quoted as saying by the Indian Today.
BJP leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis echoed Thackeray’s sentiments. “The country’s atmosphere is different now, on one side is development, but what is much more dear to BJP-Shiv Sena workers is India and nationalism,” he said.
Ruling allies BJP and Shiv Sena, whose relations have been strained for quite some time, has announced a tie-up for the coming Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections. The BJP will contest 25 seats and Shiv Sena 23 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
The two parties will contest an equal number of seats, along with their other allies, in elections for the 288-member state Assembly, due this year.
