By IANS
New Delhi/Mumbai : The over two-decade long association between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its loyal ally Shiv Sena came under severe strain over the Sena's decision to back ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pratibha Patil, but the BJP leadership played down the rift.
Expressing disappointment over the Shiv Sena move to support Patil over her Maharashtra origins, BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said the development had "saddened" the party. But she refused to say categorically if the BJP would severe its long-standing links with the Shiv Sena. Both parties belong to the pro-Hindutva fraternity.
"We are not surprised with the Shiv Sena's attitude but saddened. We will examine the BJP's relationship with Shiv Sena after the presidential election. Right now we are concentrating on (the presidential election)," she said.
The Sena, on the other hand, felt that the BJP was making heavy weather over its decision to back Patil.
Upset over the BJP's reaction, Sena's executive president Udhav Thackeray said, "There is no need for the BJP to teach us Hindutva. I can also reply to them (BJP) harshly but I have not chosen to do so, because we are still friends."
Thackeray assured a gathering of political workers that ties with the BJP would continue and explained that his party's decision to back Patil was only because of her Marathi roots and should not be construed as support to the Congress.
"The BJP should not make much out of this. Our ties in Maharashtra are strong and will last," he added.
But despite the BJP leadership's decision to play down the huge embarrassment, most state leaders were livid on learning of Sena's decision not to rally behind Shekhawat.
Maharshtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari described the Sena decision to back Patil as "anti-national and anti-Hindutva," while BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde described the move as a underhand BJP-Congress deal.
"This is betrayal. The Shiv Sena is in a deal with the Congress," Munde charged, alleging the Sena had agreed to throw its weight behind Patil in exchange for a guarantee that former Sena leader Narayan Rane, who is in the Congress, would not be appointed the Maharasthra chief minister ever.
He dismissed as "fake" the Sena's "Maratha pride" argument, recalling that the party had not supported Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde, a Maharashtrian, in the last election for the post of vice president.
Proceedings on the final day of the two-day BJP National Executive meet in Delhi were dominated by the Sena's decision while matters such as a strategy for the 2009 general elections and the coming Gujarat elections were given a go by.
"We are saddened on two counts, one because the Sena decided to support a candidate on the basis of regionalism. The president is elected for the entire country, not for a region," elaborated Swaraj.
"If we (BJP) had put up a Bengali candidate, would the communist parties have voted for him? By the same token, now that Shekhawat is our candidate, will the Rajasthan Congress support him?" she queried.
In a written statement, Thackeray said Shekhawat was contesting as an independent because he wanted the votes of all parties and this, he reckoned, amounted to horse-trading.
"It would be great to have a Marathi lady in Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2010 when Maharashtra state turns 50," he said.