Shiv Sena's culture in Maharashtra same as RJD's in Bihar like ruffians, goons: Sushil Modi

Drawing a similarity between Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Saturday said that both parties share the same culture comprising elements of "ruffians" and "goons".

"Shiv Sena's culture in Maharashtra is same as RJD's in Bihar. Like there are ruffians and goons elements in RJD, it is the same in Shiv Sena. No government can run for long with a party like Shiv Sena, people in Nationalist Congress Party knew this," Modi told reporters on being asked about the overnight twist in Maharashtra politics.

"Shiv Sena used to fight against Congress and now trying to align with them," he said.

Modi said that there was no agreement between Shiv Sena and BJP on rotational chief ministers.

"NCP people knew this and they took the good decision of forming the government with BJP. Shiv Sena-BJP alliance contested elections together and people have given a mandate to the alliance. After results, Shiv Sena began to say they had all alternatives. They also spread rumours about rotational chief ministers agreement which is totally wrong," he said.

"Shiv Sena and Sanjay Raut now need to answer as they deceived people. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar knew that they can't go on with RJD for a very long time. And their (JDU-RJD) alliance broke within 1.5 years. This shows Amit Shah is the real Chanakya," the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Earlier in the day, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the second consecutive term.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has clarified that the decision of going with BJP to form the government in Maharashtra is of his nephew Ajit Pawar, who took as Deputy Chief Minister today.

"Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted.

The move came at a time when deliberations between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday. Earlier, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed that there was a consensus on Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of the alliance government.

Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats while 44 seats went to Congress in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party, could not stake claim to form a government as its ally Shiv Sena remained firm on rotating the Chief Minister's post and equal sharing of Cabinet berths.

Shiv Sena parted its ways with BJP to explore ways to form a government. It, however, failed to prove the support of the required number of MLAs in the time given by state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

The Governor had then invited NCP, the third-largest party, to prove its ability to form the government failing which President's Rule was imposed in the state.