Mumbai: The deadlock between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party over seat sharing for Maharashtra Assembly elections continues even as the former has made a new offer of 119 seats to the latter. But the BJP wants 130 seats and the party was even ready to fight the polls alone if no consensus is reached, said sources.
The 25-year-old alliance is now on the verge of collapse as both the parties have refused to bow down and have also warned of fighting polls alone.
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, "They should remember they are not givers but takers on this land. I will be saddened if the alliance breaks."
Even a series of proposals from both sides could not manage to end the stalemate. On SUnday, Shiv Sena has given a final proposal, what they called a last ditch effort to pull a face saver.
Thackeray said, "We can give BJP 119 seats and 18 seats to the other parties."
But the BJP was not buying Sena's latest offer either. Sources told CNN-IBN that the party's Central Election Committee said they were ready to fight the polls alone, if need be.
BJP leader Eknath Khadse said, "We are not happy with the offer given to us by Shiv Sena. If we accept the proposal, we will be contesting lesser than last assembly elections."
The BJP has demanded around 130 seats and wanted Sena to contest on 140 seats. But Sena has made it clear that it would contest on at least 150 seats and has also communicated that the BJP could not widen its base at Sena's cost. The BJP insisted that they want Sena to discuss on 59 seats that it has never won.
As the BJP gets into a huddle to solve it's biggest crisis in Maharashtra, Thackeray has sent across two messages - Sena was not the one that was breaking the alliance and they were fully prepared to contest alone, if need be. As both the parties are in
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