BJP allies to flex muscle; Shiv Sena lauds Rahul Gandhi for Gujarat polls

New Delhi: After the BJP’s underwhelming win in Gujarat, NDA allies have started flexing their muscles. The latest indication of this came when Naresh Gujral, Shiromani Akali Dal’s MP in Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday summed up the outcome of the just-concluded Assembly polls by calling it the end of the age of “arrogance”.

Another NDA ally, Shiv Sena, has already been attacking the BJP over the Gujarat results and questioning the development model in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

Earlier, Mr Gujral, speaking to a news channel about the impact of Gujarat polls, said, “The age of arrogance is over.”

Shiv Sena also showed renewed aggression against the BJP. An editorial in party mouthpiece, Saamana, said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Patidar leader Hardik Patel had been ridiculed as “monkeys” but “these monkeys” have slapped the “lion”. The Sena said that it was pathetic that the BJP had to resort to emotional issues and use Hindu-Muslim divide to garner votes in Gujarat. “None of the BJP leaders was willing to speak about vikas attained in 22 years,” said the editorial.