Even as the relations between the Shiv Sena and the BJP remain strained after Sena leaders took umbrage to the BJP state leadership meeting MNS chief Raj Thackeray at their headquarters here,the BJP has authorised local units of the party to decide on whether they wanted to enter into an alliance with the Sena in the local body polls instead of taking a decision in this regard at the central level. We need to decide the extent to which we must allow ourselves to be dragged behind the Shiv Sena and play second fiddle, said a senior BJP leader,adding that it was necessary for the party to think about its future course of action. He added that the BJP state leadership had authorised their local units to decide whether they wanted to enter into an alliance for the local body polls. Accordingly,the BJP leaders from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) had said they were interested in contesting the elections on their own merit. The decision regarding entering into an alliance cannot be imposed by us. In case of rebellion in the ranks,we cannot defuse the situation sitting in Mumbai, said the leader,pointing to the discord between the Shiv Sena and BJP activists that culminated in rebellion during the polls. The polls to major civic bodies like those in Mumbai,Thane and Pune are due in 2012. The BJP leader charged that the Shiv Sena leaders and cadre had encouraged party rebels in the recent polls to the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC),which saw the BJPs tally slip to just nine corporators from the earlier 16. Earlier,the Shiv Sena had raised strong objections when Raj visited the state BJP headquarters at Nariman Point and had tea with Maharashtra BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar,general secretaries Vinod Tawade and Raghunath Kulkarni and former MLC Madhu Chavan. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had also threatened to boycott the NDAs rally against corruption scheduled in Delhi,but relented after intervention from former Deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L K Advani,Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde. The BJP had also locked horns with the Sena over the defeat of Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadses son Nikhil from the Jalgaon local self- government bodies constituency in the legislative council. Khadse had blamed Sena MLA and Jalgaon strongman Sureshdada Jain for the victory of independent Manish Jain. The Sena leadership reportedly expressed their helplessness in reigning in Sureshdada,a seven-term MLA from the North Maharashtra city. However,the BJP leader claimed that the Jalgaon defeat was not the trigger for this decision.
