Sanjay Raut says Shiv Sena 'will neither be defeated, nor be afraid', wonders if BJP leaders kept Modi in dark over '50:50' formula

Amid Shiv Sena's efforts to form government in Maharashtra with the support of NCP and Congress, senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut stressed that the saffron party would "neither be defeated nor be afraid" while blaming BJP chief Amit Shah over the impasse in government formation in Maharashtra.

"Ab haarna aur darna manaa hai," the Rajya Sabha member and Sena's spokesman tweeted, a day after he was discharged from the 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).

On Thursday, Raut also said that had BJP president Amit Shah informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the "50:50" seat-sharing formula "in time", Maharashtra would not have been facing the current political impasse.

"Had Shah informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about this decision of '50:50 formula' in time, we would not have been facing this situation today."

"I heard Modi (during poll campaigns) saying that Fadnavis will continue as the chief minister of Maharashtra, but we maintained the decorum and did not object it as we did not see it as a political message to us," he said.

Raut also wondered if Modi was "kept away" by top BJP leaders from the decision taken over seat-sharing.

"I wonder whether Modi was kept away by top BJP leaders from the decision taken between the BJP and Shiv Sena over seat-sharing," the Rajya Sabha member said. He said Shah and Thackeray had met at the latter's residence in Mumbai (in February before the Lok Sabha polls).

"It was the drawing-room of late Balasaheb Thackeray, but for us, it is a temple. The talks were held in the temple. If someone says no promises were made, it is an insult of the temple, Balasaheb Thackeray and Maharashtra," Raut said.

The Sena spokesperson's remarks came a day after Shah told reporters that Sena's demand of sharing the chief minister's post were "unacceptable" to the BJP.

Shah had on Wednesday rejected Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's claim that the BJP had agreed to share the chief minister's post with the ally, saying Modi many times and he "at least 100 times" said in public during the Assembly polls campaign that Devendra Fadnavis will again head the government if the saffron alliance gets a majority.

Shah, however, had not revealed details of the agreement between the two allies of 30 years, saying it is not the values of the BJP to bring to the public what has been discussed in private.

Reacting to it, Raut said, "When a promise made behind a closed door is not kept, then only it comes out. We never trade in politics nor we see politics from the angle of profit or loss. We are making it public because it is about our self-respect."

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President's rule was imposed in the state on Tuesday after governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari sent a report to the Centre, stating that formation of a stable government was impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts.

The BJP and Shiv Sena, which fought the 21 October state polls in alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats, respectively, in the 288-member Assembly. But the BJP did not cede Sena's demand for sharing the chief minister's post, leading to falling apart of the nearly three-decade-old alliance.

The Congress and NCP won 44 and 54 seats, respectively, in the last month's polls. After the imposition of President's rule in the state, the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP leaders on Wednesday held hectic parleys to work out a 'common minimum programme' for government formation.