"No Enmity Just Because Of An Ad": Eknath Shinde On Ties With BJP

An advertisement will not be able to weaken the Bharatiya Janata Party- Shiv Sena alliance, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Friday and asserted that the bitterness someone was trying to create over the last one year had been removed.

A war of words erupted between the Shiv Sena and the BJP over a newspaper advertisement that projected Mr Shinde as being more popular in the state than his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.

The full-page advertisement, which also had a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appeared in major newspapers in the state on Tuesday, citing a "survey" that showed Mr Shinde was ahead of Mr Fadnavis in popularity.

The advertisement, which did not have pictures of either Mr Fadnavis or Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, fuelled talks about a possible rift among the two allies whose government will complete one year in office on June 30.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Shinde said, "This alliance will not get weakened just because of an advertisement put out by an over-enthusiastic party worker." The alliance was formed from a deep ideological stand when stalwarts like Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were around, he added.

"In the past one year, someone tried to add salt (bitterness, acrimony) in the (Sena-BJP) alliance but that (issue) has been taken out like a stone. There will be no enmity just because of an advertisement," he reiterated.

Mr Shinde said his friendship with his deputy and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was a very strong one "like Fevicol ka jod", a reference to the tagline of a renowned adhesive brand.