Lok Sabha polls: BJP to contest from 25 seats, Shiv Sena gets 23

New Delhi, Feb 18: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced that the party has forged an alliance with the Shiv Sena for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the Maharashtra assembly polls.

Addressing the presser, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that Shiv Sena will fight on 23 seats and BJP will fight on 25 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Fadnavis, said that both (BJP, Shiv Sena) are ideologically similar. Some differences will not stop us from coming together, emphasised Fadnavis. Both Shiv Sena & BJP agree that Ram Mandir should be built, reiterated Fadnavis.

"We have been consistently in alliance with each other for the past 25 years. We had differences over some issues, but ideologically, we both have Hindutva agenda," Fadnavis said while addressing the media.

"Parties with nationalist thoughts should get together. We haven't taken this decision for power, but for the ideologies that we follow," Fadnavis said.Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray said that since the thoughts of both the parties are the same, they cannot "continue fighting on some misunderstandings."

"We cannot give back the nation to those who ruled the nation for 50 years. This is a new beginning. Every Hindu was waiting for this, and will be delighted by this announcement," Thackeray said.

BJP national President Amit Shah said the parties have come together on the basis of "cultural nationalism and Ram Mandir" and that the coalition would win "minimum of 45 seats in the Lok Sabha polls."

The parties have also decided on a 50-50 arrangement for the Assembly elections, the Chief Minister said, adding that the remaining seats would be divided among other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members in the state.

The Shiv Sena is one of the oldest allies of the BJP, but off-late the Uddhav Thackeray led party has been extremely critical of the PM Modi-led government at the Centre. The criticism and bickering between the two had, at one point, reached such levels that speculations began making the rounds that Sena may severe ties with the BJP.

Shiv Sena and BJP are allies both in Centre and in Maharashtra, but in early 2018, the Sena had announced that it would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the Maharashtra Assembly elections separately over disagreements with the BJP.

In 2014, the two parties, along with their allies, had won 42 out of 48 seats. While the BJP had bagged 23 seats, the Shiv Sena had emerged winners in 18 constituencies.