Jalgaon And Palghar Poll Losses; Is Breaking Ties With BJP Hurting Shiv Sena?

The Shiv Sena lost the Jalgaon City Municipal Corporation elections 2018 to its estranged ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last week. This is the second major defeat of the Shiv Sena against the BJP ever since it announced breaking ties with the ruling party going alone in polls. Is Shiv Sena's decision to break ties with the BJP hurting the party?

The Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll was the first election in which the Shiv Sena decided to go alone. The result was a victory for the BJP. The Palghar bypoll was necessitated after the death of BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The Shiv Sena fielded Wanaga's son Shrinivas, who lost to BJP's Gavit Rajendra Dhedya. While the Sena was hoping for sympathy votes by fielding late Wanaga's son, the BJP managed to garner the votes in Palghar.

After Palghar, the Jalgaon civic poll was a huge test for the Shiv Sena, especially for party leader Sureshdada Jain, who had been a political heavyweight in Jalgaon since 2003. This year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis strategically sent water resources minister Girish Mahajan to take control of the campaign in Jalgaon. Mahajan camped in Jalgaon for months and the result was the BJP winning 57 out of 75 wards of the JCMC.

The Shiv Sena, even though has been critical of the BJP over the past couple of years, has been treading with great caution. The Shiv Sena and the BJP have kept the media guessing as to what their exact relationship status is. However, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has maintained its stand of going alone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra Assembly Elections. That, for now, seems to be going well for the BJP but not for the Shiv Sena.

After the announcement by the Shiv Sena of fighting polls alone came earlier this year, the BJP has held several meetings with the party. When BJP President came to Mumbai for the party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' drive, he met Uddhav Thackeray even as the meeting was followed by the Sena continuing its attack on the ruling party.

During the Opposition's no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government last month, too, the Shiv Sena played cautiously by not attending Lok Sabha on the day of debate and vote. It stayed away from taking a stand against the ruling party. Does that mean that the Shiv Sena is being careful with every step? With a series of wins for BJP in civic bodies in Maharashtra and losses for the Sena, can the Uddhav Thackeray-led party be relooking at the alliance with the ruling party? The political scenario in Maharashtra makes it more interesting in the coming months ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra Assembly polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2018 11:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).