After the alliance break-up, BJP and Shiv Sena levelled charges of corruption against each other.
Hitting out at Shiv Sena which snapped ties with BJP for the Mumbai civic body polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said his party had no qualms about fighting on lesser number of seats in the BMC elections, but was firm on transparency in the Sena-controlled civic body.
"Like them (the Sena) I will not say that 25 years have been wasted with the alliance. I will only say that we learnt a lesson that we caused a loss to Mumbai all this while.
"I had told all BJP leaders who were negotiating that we should be willing to fight for a lesser number of seats (in BMC) but we will not compromise in having transparency and accountability in Sena's style of functioning," he said.
Mr Fadnavis was addressing a gathering of BJP workers, as part of 'Vijay Sankalp Melava' (Resolve for Victory Rally), the same venue where Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had on January 26 declared that his party will go it alone in the local body polls.
Holding Sena responsible for the break-up of the alliance in the run up to the 2014 Assembly polls, Mr Fadnavis claimed the party was adamant on not contesting a seat less than 191 (out of 288 seats).
"But I thank my stars today that the alliance did not happen (before the polls). Had it happened, I would not have been the Chief Minister today. We could realise our strength only because we fought alone," he said.
Questioning Sena's criticism of BJP when it sought transparency in the BMC controlled by the Thackeray-led party, Mr Fadnavis asked, "Did I say something wrong? Why was I chided? People had voted us to power only on the issue of transparency. Why was this agenda not acceptable to you?"
Who should be held responsible for slums in Mumbai that are deprived of water and electricity connections, he asked, and alleged, "There is no scheme to treat waste water. And due to BMC's inefficiency, the city has deteriorated environmentally."
On the contrary, the BJP government during its two years in power has made the city equipped with CCTV cameras, Wi-Fi connections and large amount work on the Metro has been done, Mr Fadnavis claimed.
"A person, at any point in the city should find a public mode of transport within 500 metres of his standing place," he said.
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena had alleged that it was the Chief Minister who was responsible for approving proposals in his capacity as the state Urban Development Minister.
"The chief of a municipal corporation is the municipal commissioner who is appointed by the chief minister. Whenever proposals are approved by the standing committee of the BMC, it goes to the municipal commissioner and the Urban Development Department for final approvals. The UDD is headed by the chief minister," Sena MP Rahul Shewale told reporters.
"Throughout the process, the chief minister is involved.
He should thus, clarify who is responsible for corruption," Mr Shewale, a former chairman of the BMC's standing committee, added.