Spilling the beans about how Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance moulded into existence, senior Congress leader and Maharashtra Cabinet minister Balasaheb Thorat revealed in an interview that it was Shiv Sena which made the first overture of forming a coalition government in the state with ideologically disparate political parties of NCP and Congress.
“Sena took the first step in initiating the alliance between the parties. Congress is an ideological party, we were not sure if Sena would come along or not. So they took the initiative for keeping the BJP away from the government,” Balasaheb Thorat said.
https://twitter.com/thakkar_sameet/status/1286888906638663680?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwShiv Sena has historically supported Congress: Thorat
Thorat also claimed that interim President Sonia Gandhi wasn’t particularly inclined to have an alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra but when the likelihood of another BJP regime in the state was weighed against the coalition government between the two parties, it came to the fore that the Shiv Sena party has historically aligned with the Congress party’s decisions.
“Sonia Gandhi was not sure about the alliance with Shiv Sena but when viewed with the possibility of another BJP government in Maharashtra and weighed against the alliance between Congress and Shiv Sena, what difference can it make. In this regard, it is worth noting that Shiv Sena has always backed the decisions taken by Congress. It backed Indira Gandhi. In 1980, Shiv Sena supported the Congress in the elections and then chief minister A.R. Antulay. Shiv Sena also backed Congress candidate Pratibha Patil for the post of President of India and later Pranab Mukherjee,” Thorat said.