Palghar factor in Sena-BJP alliance: Why is the seat important?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on February 18 announced that the parties would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls together.

Seat-sharing talks between the two parties had been on for some time, but, according to reports, there were several issues that had to be resolved for the alliance to go forward. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the issues were to do with woes of farmers and "the common man" on state level, and Ram Mandir on national level.

However, according to reports, these were not the only issues that the two parties discussed. News18 reported that Sena had demanded Palghar Lok Sabha seat for itself, and it was one of the main pre-conditions put forth by the party for a tie-up. Fadnavis underlined the importance of the seat when he said that a Sena candidate would be fielded from the region.

However, even before the alliance was announced, BJP workers in Palghar had started resigning. BJP's Palghar unit chief Paskal Dhanare told Moneycontrol that the rate at which BJP workers have been resigning since February 19 evening has gone up. "At least 60 workers in various positions have resigned so far," Dhanare said. "We have sent their resignations and their reasons to the superiors. They will decide what to do," he added.

According to observers, the resignations are not surprising. Palghar witnessed a high-decibel bypoll in May 2018 after the death of Chintaman Vanaga who had won the seat on a BJP ticket in 2014.

Sena had decided to go solo in the bypoll, and contest the BJP head-on by giving the ticket to Vanaga's son, Shrinivas. The BJP, on its part, had fielded former Congress lawmaker Rajendra Gavit. In the run-up to the polls, Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray had campaigned extensively in the region, while the BJP, apart from conducting four Fadnavis rallies, had also roped in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for campaigning.

BJP, which eventually went on to win the bypoll, had campaigned hard, and the party, a BJP source said, could not be seen as just "giving away" the seat, especially to Sena which they had fought less than a year ago. Sena, the source said, only wanted to "rub it in our face", which is why they were adamant on the demand.

However, observers believe that the Palghar constituency might be more than just an ego issue for the Sena. For starters, the region was controlled by Anand Dighe, a Sena strongman known for issuing threats to rival leaders and also carrying them out. Dighe was known to have established leadership in parallel to then Sena chief Bal Thackeray, to the extent that when Dighe died in 2001, the Sena supremo did not attend his funeral, reportedly fearing violence. Dighe's photo, along with Uddhav and Bal Thackeray, still adorns Sena posters and billboards in the region.

Another reason why Sena might have demanded Palghar is its demography. A Scheduled Tribe (ST) constituency formed after the delimitation process in 2008, Palghar has a good mix of Marathis, Marwaris, Gujaratis, North Indians and Christians. Moreover, of the six assembly constituencies that form the seat, four are reserved for STs. Of these six Assembly seats, two are held by BJP, one by Sena and the rest by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA). The fate of the candidate contesting from the seat, experts state, depends on a balance of both ST voters and urban voters.

Sena leaders say Shrinivas had complained of maltreatment by the BJP, and the Sena wanted to give him "justice", which is why it had entered the poll arena during the May bypoll. They, however, refused to comment on whether Vanga would be given the ticket again, stating that a decision regarding that would be taken by the party supremo.