Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance is on the brink with the saffron party rejecting the Sena's seat-sharing formula for the Maharashtra Assembly elections, saying that it leaves less number of seats in its kitty.
"I met Uddhav Thackeray. I have told him that we received the Sena's proposal. But if we consider the proposal, we would be contesting lesser seats than last elections. We have conveyed to Uddhav ji that this proposal is not accepted to us," Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said.
The Sena had reportedly offered 125 seats to the BJP, 10 less than what the saffron party had demanded. Thackeray's party also rejected the BJP's demand for either Dadar, Prabhadevi or the Thane seat - all three of which are Sena strongholds.
Maharashtra goes to polls mid-October.
The BJP and the Sena have seen a flurry of talks between its top leaders over seat-sharing, none of which has resulted in anything significant so far.
Both the parties have reiterated that the alliance is important to them but it will not come at the cost of self-respect.
On Friday, the BJP said that it had sacrificed enough for the sake of the alliance and will do so no more. The Shiv Sena, on the other hand, is insistent that it will fight from 155 seats in the state and that the chief ministerial candidate will be its chief Uddhav Thackeray, a proposal unacceptable to the BJP which says that a candidate from the single largest party should be the Chief Minister.
The BJP has hinted that it may look towards the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, led by Uddhav's cousin Raj Thackeray, if the talks with the Shiv Sena do not work out.
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