The Shiv Sena on Sunday took a swipe at one-time ally BJP and said Chhatrapati Shivaji was not "confined to any caste or party" but belongs to all 11 crore people of Maharashtra. The BJP had mounted a campaign seen by political observers as an effort to appropriate the legacy of the legendary warrior-king in a bid to upstage the Sena. Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, writing in his weekly 'Rokhthok' column in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', said, "Shivaji Maharaj is not confined to a caste or a party. He belongs to all 11 crore people of Maharashtra."

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant pay tribute to #BalasahebThackeray on his death anniversary today. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/2gZm9GZIXk

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2019

Taking a dig at the BJP's campaign centring on the founder of the Maratha Empire, Raut wrote, "The BJP has been campaigning that it is the only party blessed by Shivaji Maharaj. Despite that, BJP candidate Udayanraje Bhosale, lost the Satara Lok Sabha bypoll." Udayanraje Bhosale, a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, quit the NCP and joined the BJP, but was trounced by the Sharad Pawar-led party's Shriniwas Patil in the Lok Sabha bypoll held along with the October 21 Assembly elections. It was the defeat of a person and not a legacy, the Sena article asserted.