File pic: Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray with PM Narendra Modi
As the BJP emerged the single largest party in Maharashtra in the counting of votes on Sunday, its former ally Shiv Sena was staring at grim statistics that made it loud and clear that it had completely been upstaged in the first election since the death of its founder Bal Thackeray.
As votes were counted, the Sena was hovering at just about half the seats that the BJP was winning. The BJP looked set to fall short of the majority mark of 145 in the 288-member state assembly.
The BJP was winning in 115 seats, showing a dramatic improvement from its 2009 tally of 48. The Shiv Sena, however, had improved on its previous score by only about a dozen seats. It has lost 30 per cent of its seats, and has performed especially poorly in Mumbai compared to the previous polls.
Even if the BJP seeks help to form a government, the Sena will have little leverage to push for its own chief minister - a point on which it refused to budge before the polls, precipitating a break-up of the 25-year partnership.
The first signs of a change in their dynamics were visible after the combine swept the national election in Maharashtra on what was seen by the BJP as the "Modi effect".
The BJP made it clear it would no longer play second fiddle to the Sena and asked for more seats than it has ever contested in Maharashtra. Both parties refused to compromise, given that the group with more votes gets to pick the chief minister.
The BJP's risk seems to have paid off.
Both parties are now making conciliatory statements, knowing that they need each other, the Sena more so than the BJP.
An editorial in the Sena's mouthpiece had said before counting day that there was no need for bitterness anymore, "Maharashtra needs stability and peace."
Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray's only consolation would be that his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray has fared even worse, and is expected to be reduced to single numbers. In the last polls, Raj Thackeray's MNS won 13 seats on its debut.