BJP president Amit Shah with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in happier times. Currently, the two parties are contesting one another over power-sharing formula. (Photo: Twitter/@AmitShah)

The BJP and the Shiv Sena have been rival partners in an alliance that is 35-year-old. They came together for the first time in 1984 thanks to an anti-Congress front engineered by Sharad Pawar, the powerhouse Maratha politician. Sharad Pawar had not included the Shiv Sena in the multi-party coalition as he and then Sena chief Bal Thackeray were vying for same Maratha vote bank. Thackeray had the additional plank of Hindutva.

The BJP was made part of the alliance but had a very weak organisation in the state at that time. The party was only four-year-old then. Bal Thackeray arrived at an agreement with the BJP leadership of LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and fielded Shiv Sena candidates on BJP’s election symbol in the 1984 election.

Bal Thackeray, by then, had generated significant Hindutva sentiments in Maharashtra for the two parties to come together. A formal alliance was formed for the 1989 Lok Sabha election, in which the BJP was to contest on 22 of the 48 parliamentary seats in the state and Shiv Sena on 6.

Hindutva was the glue that bound them together and presented them as one unit to the voters of Maharashtra, election after election. An average voter in Maharashtra does not differentiate between the Shiv Sena and the BJP at state and national level believing they would be one post-election even if they contest separately.

They hold similar views on contentious issues such as Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, uniform civil code, Article 370, triple talaq, representation of Muslims in elections, cultural nationalism and even foreign policy. Hindutva keeps them together. But scratch the ideological political surface a little and marks of bitter rivalry would surface.

IN FORMATIVE ST-AGE

In the assembly election, to be held in 1990, the Shiv Sena contested on 183 seats out of 288. This kind of agreement is a statement in itself that the BJP and the Shiv Sena rivalled against one another since the beginning of their alliance.

While the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was in Opposition, the two parties competed for the post of the Leader of Opposition. This was the case even in 1990, when the Shiv Sena won 52 (of 183 contested) seats and the BJP got 42 (of 105 contested) seats. The BJP finished the election with better strike rate.

The post of the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly went to Manohar Joshi (who was incidentally one of the Shiv Sena candidates to have won on BJP symbol in 1984). He also became the Leader of Opposition. Chhagan Bhujbal, fellow Shiv Sena leader, revolted and later joined the Congress. At the end of the tussle, the post of Leader of Opposition came to BJP’s kitty.

WHEN IN POWER

After Babri Masjid demolition and communal riots in early 1990s, the Maharashtra Assembly election of 1995 happened in a highly polarised background. This helped the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance come to power for the first time in Maharashtra.

Going into election, Bal Thackeray had settled the question of chief minister’s post declaring the party with more seats would claim it. The Shiv Sena got it. The BJP got deputy CM’s post. The two parties quarrelled over portfolio allocation and the issues of governance throughout the tenure.

IN DEFEAT

The 1999 assembly election saw a tough negotiation for seat-sharing between the two parties. The Shiv Sena conceded 12 more seats to the BJP (117). But when results were declared, the alliance fell short of majority at 125. The Shiv Sena got 69 seats and the BJP 56 (it is the same number as the Shiv Sena has got this time around).

The defeat of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance was blamed on sabotage. There were strong rumours that the BJP and the Shiv Sena candidates tired to defeat each other’s candidates so that their party gets more number in the assembly and claim the chief minister’s post, as per the formula set by Bal Thackeray in 1995.

The Shiv Sena wanted to stake claim to form government believing that the number could be managed but the BJP under Advani and Vajpayee was reluctant for short of majority. The tussle went on for over three weeks but the Shiv Sena and the BJP failed to break the stalemate.

Sharad Pawar, who had only months ago broken away from the Congress and founded his own Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), cobbled up an alliance with his former party and Vilasrao Deshmukh became the chief minister. The coalition remained in power till 2014.

IN OPPOSITION

For 15 years in Opposition, the Shiv Sena and the BJP rivalled with one another vying for the Leader of Opposition’s role. This was the time, when Bal Thackeray ridiculed the BJP’s ambition to go 100 per cent in Maharashtra. Bal Thackeray used to say, Kamalabai (a reference for BJP’s poll symbol, Lotus) was blooming in the state only because of Shiv Sena.

Sometime after 2004 election, influential Shiv Sena leader and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane switched sides to the Congress along with a dozen party MLAs. The Shiv Sena had won 62 seats in the election and the BJP 54. This time Shiv Sena’s tally was less than the BJP. The BJP staked claim on the Leader of Opposition’s position, but failed.

However, this post came to the BJP after 2009 assembly election, when for the first time it secured more seats than the Shiv Sena 44 to 42. Its long-cherished dream of leading the Opposition was realised. The Shiv Sena was left fuming and frustrated at its ally’s growth in Maharashtra.

AND EVEN IN VICTORY

By 2014, the BJP was on course to fulfil late Pramod Mahajan’s 100 per cent dream going solo in the Maharashtra Assembly election. The Shiv Sena contested separately and finished second with 63 MLAs to BJP’s 122.

The Shiv Sena declared it would sit in Opposition and did take the benches for some time before joining hands with the BJP in the Devendra Fadnavis government. The BJP obliged its now junior ally with a dozen portfolios that many consider were insignificant ones.

This explains why the Shiv Sena and its mouthpiece Saamana was overtly critical of a government it was very much part of throughout the five-year tenure.

The two parties appeared to have buried their hatchet ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha election which, surprisingly, gave more than expected seats to the Shiv Sena in the alliance 23. Now, it has appeared that Shiv Sena was apparently promised a 50-50 formula if the alliance came back to power. That promise has come back to haunt the BJP.

The Shiv Sena interprets 50-50 formula in government as rotational chief ministership while the BJP says it meant equal share in portfolio allocation and decision-making process. This fits perfectly in the frenemical competition between the BJP and the Shiv Sena for greater occupancy in the same space of ideology, vote base and ultimately power.