Last week, the BJP and Shiv Sena gave each other reason for cheer, which was especially significant given the BJP’s resolve expressed at its state convention in Kolhapur that the party must do away with the Sena’s crutches and ensure absolute majority on its own in the next Maharashtra Assembly polls.

To the Sena’s delight, BJP National President Amit Shah said in Delhi, a couple of days after the Kolhapur meet, that the party had not promised statehood for Vidarbha in last year’s election manifesto. This move made Sena, which despises people who demand a separate Vidarbha, sing praises of Shah, who is otherwise Uddhav Thackeray’s main target. Shah was the Sena’s prime target even in the run-up to the October 2014 polls, when the two parties had gone their separate ways. They came together in a post-poll alliance two months after the election results, but their bond has rarely been strong.