After BJP President Amit Shah took a jibe at the Shiv Sena alleging that its candidates had won elections piggybacking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday retorted that even the BJP had been relying on the image of late Balasaheb Thackeray for the past many years to shore up votes.
"Amit Shah is the Home Minister and a very big politician. He sometimes speaks things that should not be spoken. For 25 years they used the posters of Balasaheb Thackeray to win elections in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, did we question them then?" Raut told reporters here.
Earlier today, Shah through a series of tweets had said that the popularity of Modi had a huge role to play in the winning of the Shiv Sena candidates in the recently held Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
"All of Shiv Sena candidates have won the elections by fighting with us. There is not a single MLA of theirs who did not put up Modiji's posters. In fact, their Vidhan Sabha (constituencies) had bigger cut-outs of Modiji than the ones of BJP. The people of the country and Maharashtra know this well," Shah said in a tweet from his official handle.
Further attacking the Congress and the NCP for luring the Shiv Sena with the promises of chief minister's chair, he said: "Is it not horse-trading to gain support by offering the chief minister's seat to someone? I ask Sharad and Soniaji to say that they will put their CM and then take support from the Shiv Sena. A 100 seat strong coalition (Congress-NCP) is offering the CM chair to a party with just 56 seats (Shiv Sena), this is horse-trading."
Meanwhile, upon being questioned about the fate of former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Raut said "Ajit Pawar Saab is still a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, whether he will be included in the state Cabinet or not will be decided by the senior (Sharad) Pawar."
Raut earlier today said that one shouldn't be surprised if his party comes to power in Delhi too.
"I have been saying this from the first day that we will form the government. I have said that our 'Suryaan' will land safely on the sixth floor of Mantralaya. But they everyone was laughing at us. But now our 'Suryayaan' has landed safely (Maine kaha tha,'hamara surya yaan mantrale ke chhate manjil par safely land karega',tab sab hass rahe the. Lekin hamare surya yaan ka safe landing hogaya)", Raut said.
Earlier yesterday, a delegation of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena leaders met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, following which it was announced that Uddhav Thackeray will take the oath of office and secrecy on November 28.
Leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in the state, had submitted a letter to the Governor announcing that Thackeray had been elected as the leader of the tri-party alliance.
( With inputs from ANI )