The veritable storm, which erupted in Shiv Sena days after its bête noire, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), decided to support the BJP in the state without joining the NDA or the saffron Grand Alliance, does not seem to have died down.

Launching a scathing attack at the BJP ahead of crucial General Elections, Shiv Sena said that there is a ‘trust deficit’.

In an editorial in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, party’s chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has angered its allies and should adhere to the “dharma” of the alliance.

“…Modi’s rise in Gujarat was possible because Bal Thackeray stuck to the dharma of alliance and did not align with Waghela…The BJP leaders who tried to reach out to the Sena deserters should read this history,” Uddhav said.

Uddhav also stressed that BJP wanted Modi to become prime minister of the country but for that “BJP needs to create an atmosphere of trust”.

“Our ideology of Hindutva is not to gain power. We don’t don the garb of Hindutva in hunger for power and there is no room for betrayal in Hindutva. Our ideology is Hindutva and will continue to be so irrespective of anyone being with us or not,” the editorial said.

Uddhav said, “If BJP wants power at the Centre with Modi as prime minister, it should create an atmosphere of trust. You don’t get trust if you don’t create one yourself for others.”

The Shiv Sena president also said his party was capable of fighting its own battles. “If you sidestep and betray friends who have stood by you through thick and thin, you will be self-inflicting the label of betrayal,” Uddhav said.

Referring to some reports appearing in media, Uddhav said the BJP has adopted a new policy of “tying up with one regional party and carrying out backdoor deals with another”.

Albeit the BJP has tried to mollify its oldest ally Shiv Sena, yet all such efforts seem to have failed. The mood in the Shiv Sena soured after MNS chief Raj Thackeray last Sunday announced support for Modi without joining either the NDA or the five-party saffron “Grand Alliance” in the state. He also announced the putting up of MNS candidates against Shiv Sena nominees, except in Pune.

The development stirred the politics in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena flexing its muscles over continuation of alliance. This prompted top BJP leadership, including Rajnath Singh and BJP’s PM hopeful Narendra Modi, to do firefighting by pacifying Uddhav. Uddhav also accused BJP of adopting self-defeating tactics.

“..The party is hitting its head against the wall and has hurt itself in the process. BJP should invoke provisions of the Domestic Violence Act to treat their self-inflicted injuries. After being told by us, Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy have applied ‘zandu balm’, but what is the guarantee that there will be no domestic violence again,” the editorial said.

Uddhav said BJP owed its national identity to regional parties like Shiv Sena.

“Despite the Hindutva wave after Rathyatra, BJP could not form government on its own even though towering leaders like AB Vajpayee and Advani leading it. It was Pramod Mahajan who deftly handled the coalition of 30-32 parties,” Uddhav said.

Actor Saif Ali Khan has been booked for assault in an incident that took place in February 2012. The trial will begin on April 30.

Mr. Khan was present at the court today and pleaded not guilty to the charges framed against him.

Mr. Khan allegedly punched NRI businessman Iqbal Sharma in a restaurant at the Taj Hotel in Colaba after Mr. Sharma sent over a note asking the actor’s group to talk softer. Mr. Khan was having dinner with actress Kareena Kapoor, now his wife, her sister Karisma Kapur and their friends Malaika Arora Khan, Amrita Arora, her husband Shakeel Ladak and producer-actor Bilal Amrohi. Mr. Ladak and Mr. Amrohi have also been charged with assault.

Mr. Khan apologized after the incident, saying: “It is our responsibility that we always behave the right way. So in one way, I would like to apologise about what happened and I think even this could have been handled in a different way. I get angry at things any normal person will get angry at. But it should not be displayed in public.”

Mr. Khan also said he acted in self-defence. His lawyer Mohan Jayakar said “Saif was provoked after women at the table were abused. Filthy language was used by Mr. Sharma.”

Mr. Khan was arrested the next day and released on bail after paying Rs. 15,000.

The actor was then just weeks away from releasing Agent Vinod, his first film as producer, co-starring Kareena.

Shiv Sena candidate Rahul Narvekar on Thursday withdrew from the biennial Legislative Council elections in Maharashtra, paving way for the rest of the candidates to be elected unopposed.

Narvekar visited the election office at Vidhan Bhavan and gave the letter of withdrawal of his candidature.

Today is the last day for withdrawal of nominations. The election for the nine seats of the Upper House of the state Legislature is scheduled to be held on March 20.

Chandrakant Suryavanshi, Haribhau Rathod and Shivajirao Deshmukh (Congress), Anand Thakur, Kiran Pawaskar and Hemant Takle (NCP), Vinod Tawde and Pandurang Phundkar (BJP) and Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena) are all now set to be elected unopposed.

The 287 elected MLAs and one nominated member form the Electoral College for elections.

With quota for winning candidate being 29, Shiv Sena with 45 MLAs fell short of numbers to get both its candidates elected.

The strength of various political parties in the Legislative Assembly is: Congress-81, NCP-62, BJP-46, Shiv Sena-45, MNS-12, PWP-4, SP-3, Jan Surajya Shakti, Bahujan Vikas Agadhi two each, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, Lok Sangram, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Swabhimani Party one each and 24 independents.

In yet another trouble for former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, he and some members of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were on Thursday booked for causing disturbances in various parts of the city and at the airport during his road show yesterday.

Kejriwal and some members of his party, including Preeti Sharma, were booked under the Bombay Police Act 37 (3). They have been charged under Sections of 188, 141 and 143 by the Mumbai Police.

The AAP leaders have been blamed for causing great inconvenience to the common public during their road show on Wednesday.

AAP convenor Kejriwal was blamed for jumping a traffic signal. The party has also faced criticism for not taking prior permission from the concerned authorities for its road show.

However, the party has hit back, saying it is an attempt to malign the party.

The AAP has blamed police for the incident and said there was no personnel to clear the chasing cameras and though Kejriwal’s auto stopped at the traffic signal, police forced it to move forward.

Reacting to the charge that Kejriwal did not take due permission for his road show, the party said, “This (commute from the airport to Churchgate railway station) was no road show or event. The misreporting that we broke some law in this journey is malicious, to the say the least.”

The AAP also pointed a finger at police for isolating Kejriwal at the Andheri Railway Station, and forcing him to enter through a wrong entrance, while party volunteers were waiting for him at another entrance with full preparation to ensure that normal Mumbai commuters were not affected.

“This led to complete mayhem as there weren’t enough police to handle the craze that set off on seeing Kejriwal, many people tried to reach out to shake hands, wish him… And the situation became quite chaotic.”

Alleging misreporting on the issue of damage to scanners at Churchgate, the party said that “defunct scanners fell due to the media frenzy and surging supporters… They were down for a few minutes and immediately put back in place by our volunteers and no damage was caused”.

“AAP is really curious as to what levies will Home Minister (RR Patil) extract from the AAP for a momentary collapse of defunct scanners when he has failed to extract any levy from parties which burn and damage public property on a routine basis,” the party said.

“We state that whatever little disturbances that were caused during Kejriwal’s visit, were due to poor handling of law and order, of the overzealous media, who risked public safety in their quest for visuals,” it added.

Kejriwal is currently touring Maharashtra, and as part of his four-day visit to the state, he has arrived in Nagpur.

A malicious image was made viral across Mumbai, which has a picture of Shri Rahul Shewale, Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI candidate from Mumbai South Central constituency with a banner headline that reads – ‘Make late Shri Balasaheb Thackeray’s memorial in Indu Mills.’

This is a malicious campaign made by the opposition to damage Shewale, who is also chairman, standing committee of the BMC. “I have never issued this statement. This fake clip is made to create controversy with an eye on Dalit votes in South-Central,” said Shewale.

Since past 10 days, Shewale has been conducting record rallies in Chembur, Mankhurd, Govandi, Wadala, Dadar, Matunga and Shivaji park area. His rally in Dharavi received a huge turnout.

Born in Dharavi, Shewale has been relentlessly campaigning in the Dalit stronghold, which has upset the opposition. “The opposition is frustrated and raking up controversy. People are with Mahayuti. This fake image shows they want to instigate the Dalit voters against me,” explained Shewale.