No Dushyant here, Sena taunts BJP

In a clear hardening of stance, the Shiv Sena taunted the BJP on Tuesday with party MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut declaring that there was no Dushyant Chautala in Maharashtra whose father is in jail and who would readily bail out the government. Hence the Sena has no good reason to back off from its demands.

Sena also seized the high moral ground by sermonising to its alliance partner that the party believes in politics of dharma and truth. Political observers said it was a veiled message to the BJP that they are 40 short of the magic number and cannot form a government with the support of smaller parties and Independents.

Raut also accused the BJP of failing to honour the 50-50 formula they had agreed upon in the presence of Union minister and BJP national chief Amit Shah.

“I do not know what the Chief Minister has said. If he is saying that the '50-50 formula' was never discussed, then I think we need to change the definition of truth. What was discussed is known to all. The media was there,” added Raut.

CONG RESPONDS: The Congress will not rush into announcing support for the Shiv Sena. It wants the Sena to break away from the BJP, first. Also, it wants a definite proposal from the government on government formation. "We can think of supporting the Shiv Sena but Uddhav Thackeray has to decide first on the issue ... whether he wants to break away from the BJP or not," party leader Hussain Dalwai told IANS.

On the other hand, Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said: "We have not received any concrete proposal from the Shiv Sena. We will not take a lead on it. But if a concrete proposal comes from the Sena, we will consider it and discuss it with the high command."