Support to BJP only if it distances itself from the NCP, says Uddhav Thackeray

"If the BJP is going to take NCP support directly or indirectly then we will sit in the opposition," Thackeray said.

“If the BJP is going to take NCP support directly or indirectly then we will sit in the opposition,” Thackeray said. (Source: PTI

In a day of political flipflops by the Shiv Sena which had earlier in the day refrained from taking part in Narendra Modi’s cabinet expansion has said that it is still open to supporting and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra. But Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said that he would support the BJP in the Maharashtra Assembly only if the party guaranteed that it would not take active or latent support of Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

“An anti national power which is out to finish Hndus in the country has grown in the state. We do not want to the strength of the Hindutva forces to be divided. It was Sharad Pawar who coined the term Saffron terror and his party which said that Ishrat Jahan is not a terrorist. If the BJP is going to take support of the NCP then it will be difficult for us to go along with them,” Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray after a two hour long meeting with party legislators and senior Shiv Sena leaders.

Thackeray also implied that the ball was now in the BJPs court and the party had two more days before the vote of confidence which will be held on November 12 to choose between the BJP and the Shiv Sena.

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“If the BJP is going to take NCP support directly or indirectly then we will sit in the opposition,” Thackeray said.

The day had however started off with indications that the Shiv Sena could finally pull the plug on its painful and prolonged power-sharing negotiations with the BJP.

After constant vacillating, the Shiv Sena’s Chief Negotiator and contender for the inclusion in the cabinet expansion Anil Desai had decided to fly to Delhi at 9:30 AM in the Morning. The Shiv Sena leadership claimed that it was hopeful that the BJP would come up with some concrete proposal for power-sharing in Maharashtra which never happened.

Desai landed at the airport at around 12:45 pm but never stepped out of the airport and was called back Uddhav Thackeray to Mumbai. Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul who was accompanying Desai stepped out of the airport and broke the news that the Shiv Sena was not going to be part of the Cabinet expansion.

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“I had decided to send Desai to Delhi as I was hopeful that a solution would be found. However we did not get a clear answer from the BJP on the situation in Maharashtra and therefore I decided to call him back. If the BJP had given a clear answer Desai could have taken oath,” Thackeray said.