Amit Shah to meet Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday on Prez poll

In view of the crucial upcoming Presidential elections, BJP national President Amit Shah will meet Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday.

This meeting at Matoshree, the Thackerays’ residence in Bandra, assumes significance as the Sena has had strained relations with the BJP and even went to the extent of supporting the farmers’ strike against the state government, of which it is a partner.

Shah who will meet Uddhav at 11 am is likely to seek his support for the NDA candidate in the presidential election scheduled next month. The BJP needs the votes of the Sena to get its nominee in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The voting for this election is scheduled on July 17 while the counting will take place on July 20, four days before Pranab Mukherjee’s term ends.

The Sena with 18 MPs and 63 MLAs has 25,893 votes in the electoral college. From Maharashtra, the support of an MP translates to 708 votes, and an MLA’s vote translates to 175 votes.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is short of the half way mark by around 24,522 votes and would need help from non-UPA parties to make up for this shortfall. In this light, it cannot afford to lose one of its allies’ support.

The Sena, in order to embarrass the BJP, even suggested Rashtraiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat as the NDA candidate. However Bhagwat ruled himself out.

Further, the Sena, in the recent past, has twice voted in favour of the Congress’ presidential candidate, including incumbent Pranab Mukherjee and for Pratibha Patil on the grounds that she was from Maharashtra, even while it was a part of the NDA.

Though the Sena shares power in the state and at the Centre, relations between the allies have only worsened since the BJP came to power. The situation reached break point during the Mumbai civic polls.