NEW DELHI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis explained why the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena decided to part ways in 2014 state assembly elections. The saffron party leader revealed that seat-sharing disagreements were the primary reason behind the failure of alliance talks with Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
“When the talks of alliance started, the Shiv Sena of that time had decided in its mind that it had to contest only 151 seats. Whereas our proposal was that we would contest on 127 seats and Shiv Sena would contest on 147 seats, we would give the remaining seats to our smaller alliance partners,” he said speaking at an event in Mumbai.
Fadnavis later revealed that the BJP had proposed a power-sharing arrangement where Shiv Sena would retain the chief minister’s post. However, according to him, Shiv Sena was unwilling to compromise, leading to a deadlock in the negotiations.
“Due to this reason, the matter could not move forward even though we explained to them a lot that we would contest on 127, and you contest on 147, you would have the chief minister, and we would have the deputy chief minister… They were not ready to have a settlement…,” he added.
In the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections, both the BJP and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena contested separately.
The BJP secured 122 seats, paving the way for Devendra Fadnavis to become the state’s chief minister. Although the BJP and Shiv Sena had contested separately, they later joined forces post-election, with Shiv Sena becoming a key ally in the government.
Thackeray’s move to break ties with the BJP and form alliance with the Congress and NCP sparked internal dissent within Shiv Sena, ultimately fueling a rebellion led by Eknath Shinde.
With the backing of BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, Shinde orchestrated a split within the Shiv Sena in 2022 and aligned with the BJP to establish an NDA government.