'Hounded' by Centre, Sena MLA urges Uddhav to patch up with BJP

A Shiv Sena legislator has said that the party should once again form an alliance with the BJP to save “its leaders from being harassed by Central agencies”.

In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Pratap Sarnaik said the former allies must patch up “before it is too late”.

Sarnaik represents Thane’s Ovala-Majiwada constituency. Although the Sena and the BJP are no longer allies, their leaders have good relations, he said.

“Several central agencies are behind me and other Shiv Sena leaders like Anil Parab and Ravindra Waikar, and they and their families are being harassed,” Sarnaik wrote. “It is better to join hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi again as Shiv Sainiks feel that would save the Sena leaders… from problems.”

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Shiv Sena heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government, of which the Congress and NCP are also a part.

Sarnaik said the Congress will go alone in the corporation polls while the NCP is trying to lure Sena MLAs.

“Shiv Sena MLAs wonder whether the MVA has been formed, by breaking the alliance with the BJP, to help the Congress and NCP grow,” he wrote.

Reacting to the letter, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil said the party will give the matter a thought only if Thackeray considers it.

“Pratap Sarnaik is a Shiv Sena leader and an MLA. He has written a letter to his party chief, calling for an alliance with BJP. The BJP leadership will consider the matter if Uddhav Thackeray also thinks along the same lines,” he said in Pune, according to media reports.

“This is an unscientific alliance [Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP]. All his life, Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray fought Congress and NCP, and now Sena has struck an alliance with the same parties,” he added.