‘WILL GIVE 18 MP SEATS TO REBELS IN 2024 LS POLLS’

Mumbai: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) planning to offer 18 seats to the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it is evident that it is bending over backwards to please the rebels. The Shinde camp currently boasts of only 12 rebel Shiv Sena members of parliament (MPs). A person familiar with the development said, “The next two years in Maharashtra are crucial for the BJP’s plan to ensure all 48 MP seats are bagged by National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Allocating 18 seats to Shinde-led Shiv Sena that joined the NDA will also see Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning for MP candidates nominated by Shinde in 2024. As many as 12 Sena MPs joined the faction and now one more former MP from Osmanabad is coming aboard.”

The BJP’s strategy includes accommodating two rebel Sena MPs in the Union cabinet of ministers, an arrangement that had been offered to the Shiv Sena even under party chief Uddhav Thackeray, during their alliance in 2014- 2019. However, the apparent ‘big-hearted’ political outreach by BJP to its newfound alliance partners in Maharashtra comes in the wake of a groundswell of support that a resurgent Shiv Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray, seems to be experiencing across Maharashtra. “In the Konkan region particularly, Shiv Sena supporters are rallying around the Thackeray family over the perceived betrayal by the Shinde faction of MLAs and MPs. However, there is an underlying strategy playing out. A resolve to bide time for now is being perpetuated to citizens and also ensuring that their angst translates into votes for MP candidates nominated by Uddhav Thackeray in 2024,” said another leader privy to the development.

He added that the BJP is pinning its hopes on the public’s short memory, but they may be dashed after the current tenure of the Lok Sabha ends. Citizen ‘sainiks’ may upset the political apple cart of all Shiv Sena ‘deserters. Meanwhile, a senior BJP leader disagreed with the notion. “The BJP has never enjoyed such an alliance with the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) in more than 30 years. By offering 18 MP seats to the Shinde group, we are also preparing proper groundwork before the next Lok Sabha polls. Popular schemes in public interest, targeted agitations against Thackeray, NCP and Congress parties will be the norm over the next two years,” he asserted. He added that the BJP will even offer candidates to the Shinde camp if it encounters a shortage of candidates to field from its quota for the general elections.