Will neither get defeated nor be afraid, says Raut as Sena talks to Cong-NCP

Mumbai: Amid the Shiv Sena's efforts to form government in Maharashtra with the support of the NCP and Congress, senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday posted a message on Twitter to assert that they would neither get defeated nor be afraid.

"Ab haarna aur darna manaa hai..," the Rajya Sabha member and Sena's spokesman tweeted, a day after he was discharged from the city-based Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent an angioplasty procedure on Monday. The 57-year-old firebrand Sena leader also tweeted a motivational Hindi couplet, saying, "Haar ho jaati hai jab maan liya jaata hai, jeet tab hoti hai jab thaan liya jaata hai" (defeat happens when one accepts it, victory happens when one is determined).

Raut on Wednesday also posted a message on Twitter to indicate tough path ahead for his party in its efforts to form government in Maharashtra with the Congress and NCP, which were its ideological rivals till recently. He has of late also been hitting out at the BJP through his Twitter posts.

After the Assembly poll results in Maharashtra were declared on October 24, Raut led the Sena's charge to seek equal share in power with the BJP, leading to falling apart of the nearly three-decade-old saffron alliance. The Shiv Sena, which espouses the Hindutva ideology, is trying to find a common ground with the Congress and NCP in its attempt to cobble-up a government in Maharashtra, which is under President's rule since Tuesday. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday met Maharashtra Congress leaders Ashok Chavan, Balasaheb Thorat and Manikrao Thakare and later said talks were going on in the right direction.