Battle of the ads: Shiv Sena warns of 'bitter pills' as BJP asks for majority

With poll campaigning for the Maharashtra elections due to end today, all the major stakeholders of this election are looking to make one last concerted push to reach out to voters. And in its usual media blitzkrieg, the BJP has bought out the front page of every single English language newspaper in Mumbai, with the words “Good governance and stability, with BJP’s absolute majority”, staring out at you no matter which paper you pick up. The ‘absolute majority’ has been a recurrent theme for the BJP which split from its oldest ally - the Shiv Sena, just ahead of the polls. And in a pointed message to the Shiv Sena, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that though he would not criticise the Sena out of respect for Bal Thackeray but made a strong pitch for an outright majority for the BJP. The Shiv Sena however, is not about to let all this pass lying down. While the party may not have been able to get ahead of the BJP in terms of ad space, they did manage to snag a full pager in a few supplements. And the message: Remember those ‘acche din’ promises? The fine print was the bitter pill. This is in line with later statements by Uddhav Thackeray that the Shiv Sena had no choice but to split from its mahayuti alliance, because it would have been the end of the Shiv Sena if they had agreed to all the BJP’s demands.