Sena's failed strategy of keeping flock together while BJP adds up gains

As Maha political high-jinks near denouement, BJP tots up gains to be made by getting back a govt

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coyly maintained that for the record it had “nothing to do” with the Shiv Sena’s rebellion in Maharashtra which resulted in the Sena dissidents being whisked away first to Surat, under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, a former minister once close to Uddhav Thackeray, the chief minister (CM), and then to Assam as the rebels’ ranks swelled. Gujarat and Assam are BJP-ruled states.

However, the penny dropped when Shinde, who evidently couldn’t hold himself back, acknowledged in a widely circulated video that, “A national party has said it will provide whatever help we need” and likened