'No Dushyant in Maharashtra whose father in jail': Shiv Sena's dig at BJP as it looks at plan B

Taking a dig at Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala who extended support to the BJP in Haryana after the saffron party fell short of a majority, the Shiv Sena Sena on Tuesday said there is no 'Dushyant' in Maharashtra. 

"There is no Dushyant here whose father is in jail," Shiv Sena MP and party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said when asked to comment on the delay in forming government in the state despite a pre-poll alliance with BJP. 

The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in Haryana but fell short of the majority mark of 46. The JJP, with its 10 MLAs, extended support to Manohar Lal Khattar who took oath as CM for the second term on Sunday. While Dushyant Chautala was given a deputy chief minister's post, his father Ajay Chautala, serving a jail sentence after his conviction in teacher recruitment scam, was released on furlough just before the oath-taking ceremony.

Raut added that the BJP won't be able to get support from either of the other three major parties - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - for various reasons. 

"Here it is us (Shiv Sena) who do politics of 'dharma and satya', Sharad ji (NCP chief Sharad Pawar) who created an environment against BJP and Congress who will never go with BJP," Raut said. 

In Maharashtra, the BJP is facing an uphill task as it fell short of the majority by a huge margin. The BJP and Shiv Sena contested the recently-held Maharashtra assembly elections together and won 105 and 56 seats, respectively. But the Shiv Sena's demand of "50-50 formula" for power-sharing has delayed the government formation. 

With no end to the deadlock in sight, the BJP is looking to repeat its 2014 strategy which had worked smoothly for the saffron party.

BJP's plan B involves tactical support from the NCP which contested the polls with the Congress. The Congress and NCP won 44 and 54 seats, respectively. There are also 13 independents in the assembly.

Raut said that the Sena also has other options but does not want to use it as they are not hungry for power.

"Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena president) has said that we have other options too but we don't want to do the sin of accepting that alternative. Shiv Sena has always done politics of truth, we are not hungry for power," he said. 

"Our only demand is that they should discuss what we had agreed on in advance. We will only talk about what the agreement was," Raut added.