New Delhi, July 21: The Shiv Sena’s decision to contest the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson’s election has put ally BJP in a fix since it favoured a consensus that would allow a Congress MP to occupy that office.

The United Progressive Alliance candidate K. Rahman Khan looks certain to win the election as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are also backing him.

But with the Sena fielding Eknath Thakur, the BJP is not sure if it should backtrack on its support to the Congress candidate or risk incurring its ally’s wrath by voting for Khan with the Maharashtra Assembly polls round the corner.

Sena leader Bal Thackeray reportedly refused to heed BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan’s request to withdraw Thakur. Mahajan had been assigned this task by Jaswant Singh, the leader of the Opposition in the Upper House.

Sena MP Sanjay Nirupam said: “What is this talk about being graceful and supporting the Congress? They are our enemy number one and we have our own ideology.”

BJP sources said if the Sena contests the election, slated for tomorrow, the party might abstain from voting to avoid double embarrassment.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said all parties barring the Sena are backing Khan; he added that the BJP iterated its support today.

Asked if he would speak to the Sena, Azad said: “So far, only the BJP has talked to us on behalf of the Sena. Nobody suggested we should talk to Thackeray. If we have not spoken to any of the NDA constituents, why should we speak to the Sena alone?” But he said he would do so tomorrow “if necessary”.

Nirupam may have spoken of “ideology”, but Sena sources said the “real” reason for opposing Khan was the BJP’s “big-brother attitude”. They said no National Democratic Alliance constituent was taken into confidence when the BJP decided to back a consensus candidate on the coalition’s behalf. The BJP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, confirmed this. “The allies were not consulted,” she said.

Sushma took pains to differentiate between getting elected “unopposed” and “unanimously”. “(Former Lok Sabha Speaker) Manohar Joshi was elected unopposed because the Congress did not propose another name. Similarly, we decided not to put up a candidate so the Congress candidate is likely to be elected unopposed but not unanimously,” she argued.