Mumbai: The Shiv Sena’s flip-flop on Friday’s no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government has further damaged its credibility and political capital with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sena MPs and Maharashtra legislators said.

On 18 July, chief whip of the Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha and Aurangabad MP Chandrakant Khaire issued a three-line whip to all Sena MPs asking them to attend the House on 19 and 20 July, and support the government against the motion. But the next day, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said the Sena would abstain during the vote. As if on cue, Khaire did a somersault on 20 July, saying he had never issued the whip and echoed what Raut had announced in Mumbai. When the no-confidence motion was actually put to vote on Friday night, all 18 Sena MPs stayed absent.

A Shiv Sena MP, who did not want to be named, told Mint that this constant “flip-flop" had further strained the relationship between the party and BJP, and also affected its political credibility. “We should have taken a position on the no-confidence motion and stuck to it throughout. By changing positions, we showed that we were unsure of our own politics," this MP said. He said such fluctuations had become too frequent and were creating confusion in the minds of the cadres.

“We have to be careful that we don’t end up in a situation wherein building bridges with the BJP becomes politically unjustifiable. There is a large section of cadres which wants us to go our own way but this section is not really sure if that is the position we are going to take eventually. While we want to keep the BJP guessing, there is a lot of confusion among our own cadres which needs to be addressed now since we are getting close to the elections," said the Sena MP.

In a telling sign, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana in its 21 July edition showered praise on Congress president Rahul Gandhi with the headline “Bhaava, jinklas" (brother, you have won hearts) referring to the Congress president’s hug with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Saamana report said the Congress president had shown lot of magnanimity and maturity by walking across to Modi and hugging the Prime Minister.

Curiously, the Sena mouthpiece wrote that the Sena MPs abstained from the vote when they had actually stayed absent. A Shiv Sena minister in Maharashtra said the Saamana reporting had positioned the party more in the Congress camp than the BJP camp. “Even the pro-Congress newspapers did not praise Gandhi so much as Saamana did. Are we telling our cadres that we are friends with Congress now? Opposing Modi and BJP is fine and we should continue to do it as far as larger public interest is involved. But this Congress sycophancy is too embarrassing and makes us look stupid in the eyes of our own cadres," said the minister, requesting anonymity.

A young Sena MP, who is in favour of the party contesting the next general election on its own, said both the parties would suffer “heavy damage" if they contested together. “We complement each other especially in Lok Sabha polls and if we contest together this time, Shiv Sena candidates would bear the brunt of anti-incumbency against the BJP. If we contest independently, we will benefit from the opposition space we have taken in the last four years. But we have to end this flip-flop soon so that we can start consolidating our position now. Making a U-turn at the last moment would be dangerous," the Sena MP said requesting anonymity.

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