New Delhi, January 4: BJP president Amit Shah held a closed door meeting with the party's Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from Maharashtra. At the discussion, Shah sought inputs from the lawmakers on the party's strategy in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Shah and the BJP MPs agreed that the party would rather than contest solo than being cowed down by Shiv Sena to accept an unreasonable seat-sharing pact.

In a stern message to the disgruntled ally, Shah said the BJP will contest solo in Maharashtra if required. The party would not "unreasonably compromise" its electoral prospects only for the sake of a pre-poll alliance, Shah was reported as saying by one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting. Uddhav Thackeray Targets Centre Over Rafale Deal Row, 'You do Scams in Purchase of Arms and Ammunition'.

Shah's remarks came after Ahmednagar MP Dilip Gandhi asked the BJP chief to clarify whether the party would continue its alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit.

"He (Shah) said that there would be no compromise at the cost of party prospects in the elections. We won more seats than projected in 2014-Assembly elections in Maharashtra. It could be repeated in 2019-LS elections too," another BJP MP was quoted as saying by HT.

The BJP leadership in Maharashtra has reportedly urged the high command to send a stern message to Sena -- whose aggressive attacks on the Narendra Modi government has "demoralised" the party cadres.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's recent "chowkidar chor hai" jibe against PM Modi has unsettled the already-fragile relationship between the two NDA allies. BJP insiders claimed that the party top brass has taken the remarks seriously, and consider that the Sena has finally "crossed the line".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 04, 2019 04:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).