Amid bickering within the Maha Vikas Aghadi, senior Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik has shot off a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray saying that the party must patch up with BJP before it is too late.
It may be mentioned, Sarnaik, a three-time MLA from Thane district, is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate on alleged charges of money laundering.
The Shiv Sena was the oldest ally of BJP – for nearly three decades – before it broke away in 2019 and joined hands with the Congress-NCP combine to form the MVA government.
In the letter dated 10 June, Sarnaik pointed out that the political alliance may have broken but the leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP enjoy good “personal relations”.
"It is better to join hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi again as Shiv Sainiks feel that would save leaders like myself, Anil Parab and Ravindra Waikar from problems,” said Sarnaik.
“We believe in you and your leadership but Congress and NCP are trying to weaken our party. I believe that it will be better if you get closer to Modi...if we come together once again, it will be beneficial to Shiv Sena and Sainiks,” he said in the letter.
“I believe in fighting a war like Arjun instead of sacrificing oneself like Abhimanyu or Karna. This is the reason that I have been fighting my legal battle for the last 7 months alone without getting any help from our leaders or our government,” he said.
According to him, Congress wants to contest alone while NCP is trying to break away leaders from Shiv Sena.
The BJP, however, offered guarded comments. “This is what we said 18 months ago,” said state BJP President Chandrakant Patil. “….Sarnaik has written a letter to Thackeray…he would decide… then our parties would decide accordingly,” he said.