As Amit Shah hints at going solo in 2019, Shiv Sena attacks BJP again

Mumbai: The BJP is expected to go solo in Maharashtra during 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports have claimed. Though the party is not breaking up its ties with the Shiv Sena yet, BJP chief Amit Shah has reportedly told the party leaders and workers to get prepared to fight next year’s general election alone.

“Party president Amit Shah has clearly told us to get ready to go alone and start preparations for all the 48 Lok Sabha seats and 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra,” a senior BJP functionary was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

The functionary also said that the meeting chaired by Shah in Mumbai on Sunday aimed to review poll preparations and measures to expand the electoral base of the organisation in Maharashtra. “The thrust was on making deeper inroads across 48 Lok Sabha seats and 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra,” he added.

According to a report in NDTV, sources said that the BJP chief asked party workers to get ready for the possibility of a triangular or even four-way contest with the BJP and the Shiv Sena fighting Lok Sabha polls separately.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday fired fresh barbs at the BJP and said that he was fighting for the "common man’s dream" and not for "Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dreams".

In an interview published in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Thackeray said: “We are friends of Bhartiya janata, not of any party.”

Uddhav Thackeray’s statement came two days after the party decided to abstain from the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.

Read: Issuing whip to MPs to support Modi govt in trust vote was mistake: Shiv Sena

A day before the no-trust move, Amit Shah called up Thackeray and later, the BJP claimed that the Sena would support the government.

The Shiv Sena also reportedly put out a whip asking its lawmakers to be present in Parliament for the vote.

However, just before the no-confidence motion was taken up, the Sena said that the party would stay away in a huge embarrassment for the BJP.

The same day, an editorial in ‘Saamana’ said that those ruling the country are butchers who save animals but kill humans.

Also Read: Nation's rulers 'butchers', they save animals but kill humans: Sena slams Modi govt

The Sena had announced earlier that it will fight the 2019 elections alone.