Sena MLA pleads for reconciliation with BJP to escape Central agencies' harassment
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Mumbai: The different Central agencies' pursuit as an act of vendetta prompted a Shiv Sena MLA to request his party leadership to consider patching up of its dissents with the BJP.
Pratap Sarnaik, a legislature from Thane's Ovala-Majiwada constituency in Maharashtra, wrote to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging him not to make a delay in reconciliation with the BJP.
Sarnaik feels it is better to rejoin hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to escape from the Central agencies that have been accused of harassing several Shiv Sena leaders and their families. Besides himself, many leaders like Anil Parab and Ravindra Waikar have been chased by agencies, he said.
Sarnaik proposed that the personal relationship with the BJP leaders could be used to initiate the patch up talks, particularly in the wake of several upcoming corporation elections in the state.
Sarnaik is said to have expressed several Sena leaders' desire who tacitly wanted reconciliation with the BJP. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, the coalition government led by the Sena, alleged that the Centre was targeting its MLAs.
In the letter, Sarnaik had also doubted the credibility of the MVA, the partners of which, he said, would go it alone in the corporation elections. While the Congress was trying to face the local body election independently, the NCP was luring the Sena MLAs into their fold, he alleged.
Reports suggested that the Enforcement Directorate had raided several properties owned by him in an alleged money laundering case. Responding to Sarnaik's letter, Maharashtra BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said that the fear in him that he would eventually land in jail forced him to make a patch up request.
In 2019, long term ties between the BJP and Shiv Sena receded following a dispute over power-sharing in Maharashtra.