Even though Shiv Sena witnessed an embarrassing poll drubbing in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, it didn’t stop the Uddhav Thackeray-led party from taking a swipe at the BJP, a party which leads the victorious NDA alliance. In its mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena jeered at the BJP by claiming if the Nitish Kumar retains the post of chief minister despite his party winning less number of seats, credit must go to Shiv Sena.
In its editorial article, Shiv Sena contended that Nitish Kumar would become the chief minister of Bihar despite his party bagging less number of seats than the BJP because of the political drama that unfolded in the aftermath of the Maharashtra elections last year when the BJP had allegedly not kept its word for a rotational chief ministerial post.
Sena, which lost deposits on all the 22 seats it fought in the Bihar assembly polls, mocked the JDU for winning just 43 seats while its alliance partner, BJP bagged more than 70 seats.
“If Nitish Kumar becomes the chief minister despite winning fewer seats, its credit should go to the Shiv Sena,” the Saamana editorial said.
“BJP leader Amit Shah had assured that Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister of the state even if JDU scores less number of seats than the BJP. A similar kind of assurance was given to the Shiv Sena during the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, which was not honoured and the state witnessed a political ‘Mahabharat’,” the editorial said.
Furthermore, the article also went on to lavish praises on the RJD leader Tejshawi Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan chief ministerial candidate, for putting up a formidable fight in the elections.
“Bihar is ushering in the Tejashwi era. He has single-handedly put up a brave fight against those in power. It would be an injustice on the part of Tejshawi to say Modi’s charisma worked in Bihar. The election which appeared lopsided initially was turned on its head because of Tejshawi Yadav,” it said.
Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis had categorically denied making any assurances regarding CM post to Shiv Sena
While Shiv Sena claims that Shah promised them a chief ministerial post before the elections, the Union Home Minister has emphatically denied on more occasions than one of providing any kind of assurances for CM post to Shiv Sena.
Shah also highlighted how no one from Shiv Sena raised objections when Devendra Fadnavis was promoted as the chief ministerial candidate during the entire election campaign. “The entire election campaigning promoted him as the CM candidate, and no one ever questioned it. We won about 70 per cent seats on which we fought, and Shiv Sena won on 42 per cent seats it fought on,” he said.
Even former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis categorically denied having made any promises of providing the chief ministerial position to Shiv Sena for 2.5 years. He claimed that the agreement over the rotational chief ministerial post which Shiv Sena continuously cited following the election result was never discussed before the polls.
BJP and Shiv Sena had jointly contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019 but the alliance fell apart over the rift on the chief ministerial post. Shiv Sena had claimed that the BJP had agreed for 50-50 agreement, with a rotational chief ministerial post for a period of 2.5 years each. However, BJP leaders denied making any such promises to its alliance partners and highlighted how Devendra Fadnavis was projected as the chief ministerial candidate by the alliance while soliciting votes from the people.
Subsequently, Shiv Sena broke the alliance with the BJP and joined hands with its ideological rivals, Congress and the NCP, to form Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance to rule Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray was then elected as the chief minister of the state.
