Maharashtra's political weather: Shiv Sena fumes, Congress dares, BJP plays it cool

As Uddhav Thackeray slams BJP once again, Congress has urged Shiv Sena to walk away from alliance but BJP's Maharashtra CM Fadnavis has said his party is open for talks.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena on Tuesday launched yet another scathing attack on BJP and questioned the manner in which the party won the Palghar Assembly seat. While suspicions that Shiv Sena may pull out of the alliance with BJP, opposition parties soon dared Uddhav Thackeray to walk out even as Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis urged for talks.

Shiv Sena has been relentless in its attack on BJP in recent weeks, even calling the party 'murderous'. The BJP has hit back by calling Shiv Sena as a 'backstabber' during campaigning for Palghar Assembly seat. It was this seat that eventually led to Thackeray questioning BJP yet again and even casting doubts over Election Commission's fairness. "There were discepencies in the counting of votes. We took up the matter with EC but they did not listen. If needed, we will go to court. We fought Palghar for the first time.We did not have a proper party apparatus, especially in the far-flung tribal pockets. Yet we gave a tough fight to the BJP," he said in an evening press conference. "The BJP doesn't need friends anymore. We shall go solo in the future."

Thackeray however stopped short of making an official statement on his party walking out of the National Democratic Alliance or the Maharashtra government.

Moments later, Fadnavis entered the proverbial political arena and attempted to calm flayed nerves. "We are not against BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and neither do we believe that our alliance will break but effort has to be from both ways. We are ready for talks with Shiv Sena," he said.

We are not against BJP-Shiv Sena alliance & neither do we believe that our alliance will break but effort has to be from both ways. We are ready for talks with Shiv Sena: CM Devendra Fadnavis on Uddhav Thackeray's remarks against BJP. pic.twitter.com/Z33GQXaIxZ — ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2018

Fadnavis' attempts were countered by other political parties like Congress and NCP who almost dared Shiv Sena to break away. "If Uddhav Thackeray has even a little self respect left in him, he should get out of the alliance," said Congress leader Ashok Chavan. "If they are really so unhappy, they should just break the alliance instrad of criticising the government's decision all the time. Why are they still supporting BJP?"

NCP's Praful Patel echoed similar sentiments. "Uddhav Thackeray is right, but no one will believe him till the time he is supporting the BJP."

Political analysts, meanwhile, remain on tenterhooks about the future of Shiv Sena-BJP alliance but many do feel Thackeray's recent outbursts is more about testing waters than anything else.