Soon after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis set the BJP workers a target of winning 40 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, party President Amit Shah on Sunday said that if an alliance happened, the BJP will ensure victory for its allies, but if it did not, the party will thrash its former allies in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
"Party workers should get rid of confusion about (prospects of) alliance (with the Shiv Sena). If the allies join us, we will ensure their win, or else will defeat them too ("patak denge"). Party workers should start preparations at every booth," Shah said.
Drawing a comparison between the upcoming elections and the third battle of Panipat, Shah said after this battle, the country was "enslaved" for 200 years.
"If we win this election, our ideology will continue to rule for next 50 years. We should put in extra efforts to win this election,” he said.
"In 2014, the BJP won 73 seats (in Uttar Pradesh). This time even if SP and BSP join hands, we will win 74 seats," he added.
While addressing the party workers from Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli and Nanded districts in Latur city on Sunday, Shah said, "We should aim to win at least 40 out of 48 seats (in Maharashtra)."
Speaking before Shah, Fadnavis said, "The party president will decide what to do with the Shiv Sena and the proposed alliance. But the BJP should aim to win 40 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state."
"The victory of 2019 will be bigger than 2014. Last time we won 122 seats in (state) Assembly and received 1.50 crore votes. We need two crore votes to attain power on our own. The number of people who have benefited from the state government's policies is more than that," he said.
At a meeting in Delhi last year, the BJP chief had reportedly told MPs from Maharashtra that they should be ready to contest the coming elections without an alliance, though efforts to forge a pre-poll tie-up with the Sena were on.
Hitting back at the BJP, the Shiv Sena late Sunday said its plan to win 40 seats meant it would rely on manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
"The Sena is ready to take on opposition. Those who attack us, we will surely defeat them," said an aide of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
"The BJP's boast of winning 40 seats is evidence that it is going to form alliance with EVMs. The BJP has been unnerved by the results of assembly elections," he said.
"Amit Shah's arrogant and boastful statements have exposed that party, Shiv Sena talked about Hindutva and Ram temple but it seems our stand did not go down well with the BJP," the leader said.
"The BJP does not want anybody who talks of Hindutva," the Sena leader said.
The BJP had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Shiv Sena but had split up at the time of Assembly elections. The Sena however, joined the state government later.
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