The Hindu : Sena-BJP coalition plans code of conduct

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 28, 2003

Other States

Other States - Maharashtra

Sena-BJP coalition plans code of conduct

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI APRIL 27. The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, now in its 19th year, plans to cement the relationship by exercising restraint at all levels by evolving a publicised code of conduct and contest the next Assembly elections on the plank of anti-incumbency.

This emerged at the first-ever BJP-Shiv Sena joint session of leaders belonging to both the parties, elected representatives and office-bearers, on Saturday night here, where it was decided that inter-party feuds should not become public but be amicably settled between them.

If any, they would be sidestepped. In the future, each party would invite the other for its events. Towards this end, a joint resolution was adopted in which it was affirmed that no party would go to the media with any woe, would not contest against each other even in local bodies and would set up co-ordination committees at the district level.

The strategy for the polls, the two parties insist, "would be formulated by October this year''. They intend to focus on 180 of the 288 seats they had won and make sure that each party's cadre works for the candidate belonging to the other party.

Such matching action would enable them to harvest some 3 per cent additional votes, they feel, and if the older stock remained intact, "regaining the control of the Maharashtra Assembly would not be a problem.''

To strengthen the bond, the Sena and BJP would together hold agitation programmes, having sensed that the two individually received fair response to Uddhav Thackeray's "Chalte Vah" and Gopinath Munde's "Sangharsh Yatra".

Their calculation is that the Nationalist Congress Party cannot have two enemies — the BJP-Sena alliance and the Congress (I).

Therefore, it would chose to fight with the Congress (I) alongside and that would be possible only if the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls are de-linked. Because, Sonia Gandhi's leadership could trouble an alliance between them for the Lok Sabha polls. Therefore, an earlier Assembly poll appears imminent.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

Stories in this Section

Isolation of SARS suspects `not up to the mark'

Sena-BJP coalition plans code of conduct