This paper, based on an attitude survey of the Maharashtra voters two weeks after the voting took place for the 1995 assembly elect ion, argues that in terms of the social base, the BJP or Shiv Sena, singly, does not compare favourably with the Congress Party. Their alliance, therefore, is inevitable. In this background, the state politics is likely to witness a two-fold competition: The alliance will try to win over the remaining social base of the Congress. Simultaneously, the alliance partners will be silently engaged in usurping each other's following in a bid to replace the Congress.
