BJP internal war won’t affect Maharashtra prospects: Shiv Sena

October 4th, 2009 MUMBAI - Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane on Sunday said that his party would benefit from the political squabble between Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirmana Sena (MNS) in Maharashtra. Highlighting the recent verbal duels between Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS supremo Raj Thackeray, Rane said that the dispute between the two brothers had weakened the prospects of both the parties in the upcoming state polls.

September 20th, 2009 MUMBAI - Senior Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's house was ransacked here on Sunday by some party workers who were agitated over the neglect of their favourite local leader during ticket allocation for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. According to sources the outrage was over demand of ticket to dadar constituencies sitting MLA for upcoming assembly polls.

September 19th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance's seat sharing formula for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections has been announced at a press conference in Mumbai on Saturday. The Shiv Sena will contest 169 of the 288 Assembly seats, while the BJP will contest from the other 119.

September 19th, 2009 MUMBAI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on Saturday expressed confidence about emerging victorious in the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. "It is 45 years since Shiv Sena came into being.

August 31st, 2009 MUMBAI - Though the party's top leadership is struggling to set the house in order, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maharashtra unit has finalised the seat sharing agreement with the Shiv Sena on Monday for the upcoming assembly polls in the state. According to BJP sources the talks with Shiv Sena are almost over and an official announcement would be made in a day or two.

August 31st, 2009 MUMBAI - The rumblings at the top level of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) notwithstanding, the state unit of the party has quietly worked out an understanding to fight the ensuing Maharashtra assembly elections in alliance with the Shiv Sena. "Our talks are almost over and we should make the official announcement in a day or so, largely on the existing 171:117 formula for the 288 assembly seats," an officer-bearer of the party told IANS here.

July 14th, 2009 MUMBAI - In turf battle ahead of state polls in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has promised houses in Mumbai to state's bona-fide residents. Having lost ground to its faction, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, over hardline political posturing, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray led a bunch of party activists and supporters to the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) head office demanding that non-Maharashtrians should be barred in that allotment of shelters.

May 24th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have both been electorally routed in Mumbai and in parts of Maharashtra in the recent general elections, but this has not stopped the Thackeray family from bringing its internal bickering out into the open. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has blamed his cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray for the Shiv Sena's poll debacle.

May 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has said that MNS did not steal anybody's votes. He said while addressing his party workers here on Friday in the wake of the comments by Shiv Sena's Executive President Uddhav Thackeray that due to presence of MNS, the votes were split in the recent elections to Lok Sabha.

May 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - In a not too unexpected development, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray late Monday severed all ties with his nephew Raj Thackeray, who had walked out of the fold three years ago to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) that severely dented the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in the state in the general elections. 'Anybody who is an enemy of the Marathis is my enemy,' Bal Thackeray said in a statement.

May 16th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Shiv Sena on Saturday blamed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for dividing Marathi votes on regional lines. "The MNS tried to divide people on regional lines.

May 16th, 2009 MUMBAI - Early counting trends in Maharashtra Saturday indicated a setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine, with the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leading in many seats. As per counting trends at 10.30 a.m., the BJP and the Shiv Sena were leading in eight seats each, while the Congress is leading in 14 and the NCP in 10 seats, an election department official said.

March 27th, 2009 PANAJI - Ouster of offshore casinos from Goa is on top of the poll agenda of the Goa Shiv Sena, which will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in the coastal state. Speaking to IANS from Mumbai, president of the Goa unit of the Shiv Sena Upendra Gaonkar said that his candidature for the North Goa seat and party vice-president Namdev Naik for the South Goa was formally endorsed by the party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray Friday evening.

March 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ironing out their differences, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena Tuesday announced they would begin joint campaigning in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha polls March 20. BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde said that party chief Rajnath Singh and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackrey would start canvassing together.

March 14th, 2009 MUMBAI - Setting speculation at rest, the Shiv Sena said Friday that its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would continue following an agreement on seat sharing in Maharashtra for the upcoming general elections. 'While the Sena will contest 22 Lok Sabha seats, BJP will contest the remaining 26 in the state,' Shiv Sena's spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut told journalists.