“We will contest elections in all states without making an alliance,”Thackeray said.

MUMBAI – A powerful regional political party has snapped ties with India’sruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of general elections in 2019, aparty leader said on Tuesday, ending a nearly three-decade-old alliancebased on nationalist ideology.

The Shiv Sena, a partner in the governing coalition formed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s BJP in Maharastra, has decided to contestelections on its own, the party’s president, Uddhav Thackeray, said.

“We will contest elections in all states without making an alliance,”Thackeray said.

The decision makes the Shiv Sena the first major political outfit to breakan alliance with the BJP since Modi became prime minister in 2014.

“The BJP has always wanted an alliance of nationalist parties,” said KeshavUpadhyay, a BJP spokesman in Maharashtra. “The Sena’s decision does notworry us. We have a strong network of cadres in the state to contestelections on our own.”

The Shiv Sena enjoys considerable political clout in Maharastra, home toIndia’s financial capital of Mumbai, and like the BJP, it believes India isa fundamentally Hindu nation, despite its secular constitution.

Despite being allies in the state government, power sharing has led todiscord between the two parties. The chief minister of Maharashtra is amember of the BJP.

“The BJP has become arrogant after winning more seats in 2014 assemblyelections, it has neglected its alliance partner in power sharing,” said asenior Shiv Sena leader, who declined to be identified as the party isstill in the state government.

Thackeray did not specify if the Sena would withdraw support to the stategovernment in Maharashtra, where it has 63 seats in the 288-member stateassembly, compared to the 122 held by the BJP.

In Davos, the state’s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, told reporters hisgovernment would complete its full five-year term.

The state government’s popularity has waned because it has failed to tacklerural distress, said political analyst Pratap Asbe.

“It would be difficult for the BJP to secure a majority in Maharashtra in2019 without the support of the Shiv Sena,” he said.

In the last two decades, no party has won the votes needed to form amajority government in Maharashtra, which sends the second-largest numberof lawmakers to the parliament. – Agencies