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The results for the Assembly polls of the National Capital were declared on Tuesday with BJP winning only three out of 70 seats, while maverick Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rode laughing to power with a thumping majority of 67. Angry with the attitude of the BJP in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena on Wednesday blamed Modi — who had played an active part in the campaigning — for the defeat, the first such setback for the party since it came to power at the Centre in May last year.
In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sena said: “If this isn’t his (Modi’s defeat, then whose is it?”
Using a cliched image, the editorial said the people of Delhi have used the broom — the election symbol of AAP — to sweep BJP out.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday took a swipe against BJP, saying “the people of Delhi have shown that tsunami (AAP) is mightier than a wave (BJP).”
Subsequently, BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar dared Shiv Sena to resign from the Centre and the state government. In the Saamna editorial, Shiv Sena advised its ally to introspect while charting its path in Maharashtra.
On Wednesday, Shiv Sena asked BJP to immediately form the coordination committee for smooth functioning of the state government and also allocate work to the party’s state ministers.
Shiv Sena ministers have threatened to resign due to division of work between them and the BJP Cabinet members.
BJP’s current strength is 121, with the support of Rashtriya Samaj Party’s lone member while Shiv Sena, with 63 members, joined as a junior partner in the government on December 5 last year.
Shiv Sena has claimed BJP was not taking it on board while taking key administrative decisions and also during the formation of key Cabinet and government committees. The party reiteerated that its high time that a co-ordination committee comprising BJP allies be set up at the earliest.
Shiv Sena’s minister of state for revenue Sanjay Rathod, who comes from the Yavatmal district, which has witnessed a large number of farmers siucides, on Tuesday submitted his resignation to Uddhav on the grounds that he was unable to resolve a couple of issues due to lack of necessary powers.
However, Uddhav has asked Rathod and other ministers of state to “wait and watch.”
