Shiv Sena part ways with BJP, go solo to contest 2019 Lok Sabha Elections
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday passed a resolution to part ways with the BJP and go solo in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2019.
BJP had been demoralising the party for the last three years, said Sena MP Sanjay Raut. The resolution was passed unanimously in the party's National Executive meet here.
"I moved the resolution for the Shiv Sena to fight the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls on its own in 2019," Raut said.
Ironically, today is the 91st birth anniversary of Shiv Sena's founder Bal Thackeray.
The party will win at least 25 Lok Sabha seats out of a total 48 in Maharashtra and 125 Assembly seats out of a total 288 in the state, he added.
"The BJP allied with the Sena in the name of Hindutva and the Sena kept patience for Hindutva. However, the BJP in the last three years has been demoralising the Sena and using power to do so," Raut said.
Party sources earlier said, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to be re-elected as there is no other nomination for the post.
In the October 2014 Assembly Elections, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance had broken down and both parties fought the elections independently. Later, the BJP emerged as the single largest party while the Shiv Sena sat as the main opposition party for a month, and then joined the ruling BJP in December that year. -PTC News
