Partners in Maharashtra's ruling alliance turned on each other on Thursday, within hours of the results for five Legislative Council seats, The Hindu reported.
The Mahayuti, made up of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), won two of the five seats, one each for the BJP and the Shiv Sena. The NCP failed to keep the one seat it was given in the seat-sharing deal. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) won two seats, and the Congress kept its Nagpur seat.
After the results, both the BJP and the Sena said the alliance would have won all five seats if its partners had worked together.
The BJP's charge
BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban said the Shiv Sena had not given the expected support in the teachers' and graduates' constituencies in Pune and Nagpur. He said the Sena hurt the alliance by backing Sachin Sanap at the last minute in Pune, and that in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Abdul Sattar campaigned directly against the NCP.
"Driven by the greed for one seat in Pune, Shiv Sena put its ally parties in a difficult position and squandered the opportunity to win three seats," Mr. Ban said.
The Shiv Sena's reply
Shiv Sena leader Anand Paranjpe said there had been "a complete lack of co-ordination on seat distribution since the beginning". He said the Sena had asked for at least one of the two Pune seats, neither of which had a sitting BJP member, but the BJP wanted both. In Pune, the BJP won one seat and the NCP (SP) the other.
Mr. Paranjpe said the BJP should look at whether its own leaders worked for the allies, naming Prashant Bam, and pointed to a rebel BJP candidate, Anand Sole, in Nagpur. "So it is the BJP which needs introspection," he said.
Why it matters
Council results come from small electorates of graduates, teachers and local bodies, but they are the latest test of how well the three ruling parties work together. NCP leader Praful Patel has also called for introspection after his party's loss, The Hindu reported.