Election 2019: No Guarantee Of Opposition Alliance Staying Intact Till Election Results, Says Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Monday targeted opposition parties for trying to forge an alliance to keep ally Bharatiya Janata Party out of power after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, saying India cannot afford to have a coalition government “crawling” with the support of several small outfits.

Taking a swipe at Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s efforts to forge an alliance of opposition parties, the Sena said he was unnecessarily exhausting himself as there was no guarantee of this “possible coalition” staying intact by the time election results are out.

Polling for 542 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha ended Sunday and election results are due Thursday.

Most exit polls have forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

“The Mahagathbandhan (proposed grand alliance of opposition parties) has at least five prime ministerial hopefuls...their hopes are likely to be dashed going by the current indications,” the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. “The country cannot afford to have a coalition government crawling with the help of several small parties.”

Referring to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Naidu's meetings with several opposition leaders in the last few days, the Shiv Sena said some people think after the declaration of election results, the situation in Delhi (Centre) would be unstable and "they want to benefit out of it".

“The opposition has assumed the BJP would not come to power, so they are trying hard to gain support of all possible parties to keep the BJP out of power,” the Shiv Sena said.

“Naidu is trying for a coalition but in reality, his efforts are going to be futile. He met NCP chief Sharad Pawar twice in Delhi, but there is no guarantee of this possible coalition continuing to stay intact by May 23 evening,” said the Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP in New Delhi and in Maharashtra.

It claimed the Left parties were unlikely to open their account in West Bengal, and the Aam Aadmi Party was expected to meet a similar fate in Punjab, Delhi and Haryana.

The Left's base in Kerala was also likely to shrink further, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.