The last-minute efforts to save the 25-year-old alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena failed on Thursday, two days before the deadline for filing of nomination for the October 15 Assembly elections ends.
Sources in the BJP said the party will shortly make a formal announcement of the split, which came after about two weeks of high drama and intense parleys between the two allies.
It is not yet clear whether the BJP and the Shiv Sena will now contest all the 288 seats in Maharashtra. If it happens, it is good news for the Congress and the NCP, which are yet to work out their own differences over sharing of seats.
Earlier on Thursday and shortly after the BJP sources indicated they have decided to end the alliance, the two partners made a last-ditch attempt with Uddhav Thackeray calling the BJP chief Amit Shah. Shah cancelled his Mumbai trip for the second consecutive day on Thursday amid strong signs of a break-up.
The sticking point for the two senior allies in the Mahayuti or Grand Alliance is the concession of seats to the four junior partners, who, in an earlier arrangement, were given just seven seats among them.
Following a press conference jointly addressed by leaders from the two parties on Tuesday, it was declared by sources that the Shiv Sena will contest 151 seats while the BJP will be given 130 seats for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
However, after the junior allies in the 25-year-old Mahayuti or Grand Alliance objected to being denied a fair share in the Maharashtra pie, the arrangements fell through.
Courtesy:-indiatoday.intoday.in
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