Sena expresses reservation over new BJP chief`s remark

Mumbai: BJP`s oldest ally Shiv Sena today expressed reservation over that party`s new Maharashtra unit chief Devendra Fadnavis asking "all Opposition parties to unite" and advised him to concentrate on strengthening the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance instead.

"What is his definition of `all Opposition parties`? What does he plan to do?" an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana questioned. Though neither Fadnavis, nor the editorial named the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, political observers feel that the new state BJP president`s appeal for "all" opposition parties to come together to dislodge the Congress-NCP government was "loaded" enough to elicit this kind of query from Sena. "We have friendly ties with BJP and Hindutva is the link for this friendship. If Sena-BJP-RPI plan a strategy, Congress-NCP and also other `small fry` parties would vanish," the editorial said. BJP leader Gopinath Munde has in the past said his party would welcome an alliance between its partner Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray-led MNS. According to some media reports, it was Munde who made the BJP leadership appoint Fadnavis as the party`s president in Maharashtra, and that the BJP ignored former president Nitin Gadkari`s suggestion to give another term to Sudhir Mungantiwar. Fadnavis, who represents South West Nagpur in the under-developed Vidarbha region in the state assembly, will now lead the party during the 2014 general elections. PTI