New Delhi: The Shiv Sena on Monday rebuffed BharatiyaJanata Party national President Amit Shah’s rapprochement efforts by saying that 'the Modi floods' may have swept away snakes and mongooses, but "the tiger cannot be tamed." The bickering ally, which has declared its intention of going alone in the next polls, made strong comments against the BJP, saying the party was "still living in the golden era of 2014" while "the picture of 2019 will be completely different."
In a hard-hitting editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamna', the Sena said the BJP had forgotten "humility" after coming to power in 2014 but has started getting "some thoughts" after the LokSabhabypoll results of Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh, where the party suffered serious setback last month. The BJP lost both the seats which had been won by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively in the 2014 LokSabha polls.

"The BJP does not need friends. They are strong and self-reliant," the Sena editorial said. "Their (BJP's) wingless plane flew in the sky and kept on flying. Now they want to land but there is no place to land," it said. "Let the BJP keep dreaming about the golden era. We wish them luck," it added.
The Shiv Sena and the BJP had fought the 2014 LokSabha elections together but the BJP subsequently decided to go alone in the Maharashtra assembly polls in October same year. The BJP-led government came to power in the state in October 2014, while the Shiv Sena joined the government in December that year.