Sena takes dig at ally BJP in Saamana toon
The cartoon hinted that the Sena has better options to form the next government.
Mumbai: After the Maharashtra Assembly election results showed a dip in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s tally as compared to the 2014 polls, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took a dig at his party’s senior ally by posting a cartoon on his Twitter account.
The cartoon showed a tiger (the Sena symbol) wearing a clock (the NCP’s symbol) locket and sniffing a lotus (the BJP’s symbol).
Captioned “Bura na maano Diwali hai”, the cartoon went viral on various social media.
Even if in jest, the cartoon was symbolic of the Sena’s current political situation.
The Sena won 56 seats while the NCP-Congress alliance bagged 98 seats in the state Assembly elections.
The cartoon possibly hinted that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has better options to form the next government if the BJP does not listen to its demands.
Despite winning less number of seats as compared to the 2014 Assembly polls, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray seems to be in a better position to bargain for a better deal with the BJP.
In 2014, the Sena contested the Assembly elections on its own and bagged 63 seats whereas this time, even in alliance with the BJP, it could win only 56 seats.
In the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, the party acknowledged the BJP’s “big brother” status, but stated that the latter got the “Janadesh (mandate)” and not the “Mahajanadesh (huge mandate).”
The BJP was expecting to win 220 seats in the state Assembly but was able to secure only 105.
Moreover, many prominent faces of the party, too, lost their elections.
Through the the editorial, the Sena also tried to send a reminder that the BJP should not grow arrogant or neglect the welfare of people.