BJP reduced to ‘dirt’ in Delhi: Sena

Mumbai, The repercussions of the Aam Aadmi Party’s sweeping victory in the Delhi Assembly elections are being felt in Maharashtra where the Shiv Sena, which is in an uneasy alliance with the BJP in the state, has turned strident against the national party.A Shiv Sena minister has threatened to resign from the Devendra Fadnavis government even as party mouthpiece criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah for the BJP’s poor show in Delhi.Sources said Shiv Sena’s Minister of State for Revenue Sanjay Rathod had submitted his resignation from the Fadnavis cabinet to party chief Uddhav Thackeray to protest his sidelining by the CM.Earlier, Industries Minister Subash Desai, a Shiv Sena veteran, had a run-in with Fadnavis over being kept out of the loop while decisions regarding his ministry were taken by the CM and selected bureaucrats.Sources say Desai asked his bureaucrats in the ministry to put up files pertaining to the Maharashtra Industries Development Corporation before him before being sent to the CM. The attempt by the Shiv Sena minister to assert himself hasn’t gone down well with Fadnavis but Uddhav is said to be egging Desai on.The severe drubbing received by the BJP in the Delhi elections has come in handy for the Shiv Sena to attack its partner. “The BJP in Delhi is a lot of dirt which has been swept away by Kejriwal’s broom,” the editorial in Saamna said.Targeting Shah, Saamna said his strategies did not work in Delhi. “Shah’s calculations did not work and his desperate attempt to use Modi as a Brahamastra in the elections flopped miserably,” the editorial said.“Shah and Modi must ask themselves why the people deserted the BJP. Unemployment has not come down. Inflation is still high. Those living in the slums still haven’t got homes…. Even Barack Obama could not save the BJP,” Saamna said.The newspaper went onto say that the voters of Maharashtra should draw lessons from the Delhi election results. “Delhi has embraced ‘Paanch Saal Kejriwal’. The people of Maharashtra must learn from this. They should also move in that direction,” Saamna said.However, Fadnavis tried to play down the BJP’s debacle saying that winning and losing are part of the electoral battle and the outcome should not be seen as a verdict on Modi.

(With PTI inputs)