As a saying in Marathi goes, people and institutions are often hurt more by success than defeat. Perhaps nothing typifies this more than the game of beating the other as goes on between the BJP and the Shiv Sena after their success in the Lok Sabha polls, where the saffron combine won 41 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra. Before the polls, the Shiv Sena, after almost five years of incessant sniping with the BJP, buried the hatchet and its short-lived decision to contest the elections all by itself. The Sena announced its decision to fight the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls in an alliance with its senior ally, basing its move on the possibility that the Narendra Modi regime may return to power in Delhi with a weaker mandate than 2014, which would give it more bargaining power. Also Read: Congress & NCP need to pull up socks, start afresh However, the BJP improved its tally in the Lok Sabha, leading to trepidation in the Shiv Sena about a repeat of 2014, when the former snapped its alliance with the Sena riding on its success in the general elections. The BJP then emerged as the single-largest party in the Assembly with 122 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena with a much lower 63, turning the tables on the later, which had traditionally dominated the alliance. The Sena then joined the Devendra Fadnavis-led government after a short-lived stint on the opposition benches. It, however, continued to act out the role of an opposition party despite being part of the Modi and Fadnavis regimes. Also Read: Tough nut to crack: Congress-NCP combine will have to change narrative of nationalism Overriding the claims of the Shiv Sena, finance and forests minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, had claimed that the next chief minister would belong in the BJP. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, who is seen as the number two in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Cabinet, had stressed that while the Sena and BJP would contest 135 each of the 288 seats in the Assembly, their smaller allies would get the other 18. Also Read: Rainbow coalition might make mark, hopes Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi The Shiv Sena took umbrage and pointed out that the BJP expected these smaller parties, namely, the RPI faction led by Ramdas Athavale, Mahadeo Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Party (RSP), farmer leader Sadabhau Khot's Rayat Kranti and Vinayak Mete's Shivasangram to contest on its lotus symbol. This in effect, means that if elected, these legislators will belong to the BJP. However, a BJP minister noted that in the press conference where the Shiv Sena and BJP's tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls was announced, it was declared that the two parties would contest an equal number of seats after leaving aside a share for these smaller allies. Adding fuel to the fire, Yuva Sena leader Varun Sardesai claimed that the two parties will share the chief minister's post for two-and-half years each after the Assembly polls due later this year. Sardesai, is a core committee member of the Yuva Sena, and the maternal cousin of Aaditya Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena's youth wing. Also Read: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 'not certain' how to brace for state polls The Trepidation

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