Shiv Sena would have ruled country if stood on its own from beginning: Sanjay Raut

Responding to its party chief Uddhav Thackeray's admission that 25 years of its alliance in Maharashtra with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended in 2014 ahead of the assembly elections, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the birth of the party was not because of politics, it was for the country, for Hindutva and for the people.

"You can take out any meaning out of what he has said. Shiv Sena has never worried about politics. The birth of the party was not because of politics it was for the country, for Hindutva and for the people.... Our policy is people and Hindutva. So, there can be many meaning out of what Uddhav Ji has said," Raut tola ANI here .

"It is not about our 'loss' or something, we did this alliance with the BJP for hindutva. But that very BJP after 25 years without keeping this ideology in mind broke this alliance," he added.

The Sena leader also asserted that if the party would have stood on its own from the very beginning then in not only Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh they would have ruling the country with the power of Hindutva.

Party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday that the party "rotted" during the 25 years of its alliance in Maharashtra with the BJP, which ended in 2014 ahead of the assembly elections.

"For 25 years or at least two generations, we held each other's hands and moved on. We could have come to power on our own strength long ago but we rotted in this alliance with the BJP," Thackeray said.

He said the alliance may have been necessity then, "but if Shiv Sena had gone independently, the picture would have been totally different now".

In the final of a three-part interview published in the party mouthpieces Saamana (Marathi) and Dopahar ka Saamana (Hindi) on Tuesday, ahead of his 56th birthday on Wednesday, Thackeray spoke to Executive Editor and MP Sanjay Raut.

He said there was a time when all top leaders of the state and the masses were solidly behind then Sena chief Bal Thackeray but unfortunately "we had to rot in the alliance for 25 years".

"Bal Thackeray never hankered for power. He was only concerned about preventing a split in Hindu votes. But now, the BJP broke the alliance," Mr Thackeray said.

He said after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapped its 25 years of ties, the Sena fought the 2014 polls independently but got only two weeks to prepare. Otherwise, the situation would have been different.