Friendly fireshot: Sena attacks BJP’s ‘politics of arrogance’ in Saamana

Even as the BJP and Shiv Sena is preparing towards forming a new government in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has started firing friendly shots at the BJP.

On Friday, Shiv Sena used its mouthpiece Saamana

as a platform for criticising BJP and other political opponents — an old tactic of the party.

The editorial titled ‘Don’t be overzealous, Don’t be arrogant’ has said that it was the combined forces of BJP and Shiv Sena, which managed to the simple majority. “It is not a mega mandate, otherwise you (BJP) will be finished.” BJP did not get majority on its own in the state, where 288 seats are at stake, the editorial said.

The Saamana editorial had pointed that the people’s mandate received by the BJP has rejected the notion that elections can be swept by engineering defections and splitting opposition parties.

It added that the BJP shattered the NCP in such a manner in run-up to elections that people wondered if the party had any future. But today, NCP has made a back by crossing the 50-seat mark, while a leaderless Congress won 44 seats.

In a similar vein in October 2014, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray had come down heavily upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a poll campaign by comparing his cabinet to Bijapur general Afzal Khan’s army, which attacked large parts of Maratha empire under Shivaji.