Pune: The surprise announcement of a tie-up between Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) for the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Barshi tehsil in Solapur district has raised eyebrows in political circles and prompted a quick denial from senior leadership of the rival factions.Sena (UBT) MLA from Barshi, Dilip Sopal, declared the alliance through a social media post on Saturday. Sopal also claimed both camps of NCP came together to form ‘Maha Aghadi’ (mega alliance) against BJP. A poster shared on the post had photos of Uddhav Thackeray, Eknath Shinde, Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, and other senior members of both factions of Sena and NCP.Reacting to the development, Solapur’s guardian minister Jaykumar Gore said all the other parties were compelled to come together, which shows how strong BJP is in the district. “However, Mahayuti partners should rethink before going together with parties that are not our allies in the state,” the BJP member said.Sena (UBT) distanced itself from the tie-up in Barshi tehsil. “The decision was not made officially with the consent of party seniors. I do not have information about Uddhav Thackeray taking such a call and, knowing him, he would never do that,” said Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.Explaining the party’s stand, MLC and Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sachin Ahir said they would not form an alliance with the faction that engineered a split in the party. “We are getting proposals for a tie-up with the (deputy CM Eknath Shinde) Shinde faction in various places. Such an offer came from Pune district’s Junnar tehsil, but we declined it. We do not mind losing some seats in elections, but we will not compromise on our stand,” Ahir said.Similarly, cabinet minister and senior Shiv Sena member Uday Samant said he is not aware of a tie-up between the two factions. “I will seek more information on the matter, but I do not think that such an alliance is possible,” he said.Ever since Shinde engineered a split in Shiv Sena in 2022, both camps have been at loggerheads. The other deputy CM, Ajit Pawar, took a similar step and divided NCP in 2023. However, during the civic polls, both NCP factions kept their political rivalry aside and joined hands in several municipal corporations. The development in Barshi will be the first when the two Sena camps contest an election together.
