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No question of breaking off ties with Sena, says Mahajan

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan, MP, on Monday asserted that his party's alliance with the Shiv Sena was permanent and it will last for all time to come.

Speaking to reporters in Bombay, Mahajan said the BJP-Sena, which shares power in Maharashtra, will contest together not only the next assembly election, but many more elections to come. Replying to a question about the recent feud between the two alliance partners over the Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp involving construction of 200,000 free houses for slum-dwellers, Mahajan said the differences had been sorted out and there was no bitterness or chink left.

He said the alliance was 14 years old and there were no ideological differences among them. Both parties shared same values and principles. The two parties had contested four Lok Sabha and two assembly elections together and likened the recent episode to a natural tiff experienced by any two friends during their long-lasting friendship.

He expressed confidence that the five-member joint committee of the two parties set up to review the project would come out with a satisfactory solution for its effective implementation.

Asked whether the recent boycott of the state cabinet meeting by ministers belonging to the BJP was an indication of the rift between the ruling partners in the state and if he approved of such action, he said, "I do not disapprove of the boycott to express one's grievances. But normally cabinet meetings should not be boycotted by ministers. It was for their friends to ponder why such a situation arose."

He said since the curtain had been rung down on the episode, he was sure there would not be a recurrence of the situation in future.

Mahajan is regarded as the architect of his party's alliance with the Sena.

Parrying a direct question on whether his party's grievances over the style of functioning of Chief Minister Manohar Joshi was over, he said the chief minister was an individual and an individual's performance was irrelevant. What mattered was the overall performance of the government. Alliances are not built on individual's style, he said, adding that his interaction with the chief minister was minimum "and I cannot give any assessment of his style of functioning".

Replying to another question he emphatically denied that the Shiv Sena was trying to ignore the BJP in the government.

UNI

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