New Delhi: Shiv Sena on Wednesday hailed NCP chief Sharad Pawar for his decision to reject Prime Minister Narendra Modi's offer to ally with BJP. According to Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, BJP had conspired to not allow a Chief Minister from the party. "Conspiracies were being hatched to remove Shiv Sena from Maharashtra, there was an attempt to make Sharad Pawar sahab a part of the conspiracy but he did not fall for it," Raut said.

This comes after an interview given by Sharad Pawar to ABP News in which he had said that the Prime Minister, during a meeting at Parliament last month, had asked him to ally with the BJP and be a part of the government at the Centre and Maharashtra.

"If Pawar's MLA was less than 55, his experience would not have been useful for BJP," Shiv Sena stated and questioned why it took five-and-a-half years for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to understand that Pawar's experience can be useful for the nation. "It was their 'conspiracy' to not allow a Chief Minister from Shiv Sena," it stated.

Maha Vikas Aghadi, an alliance between Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was formed weeks after political uncertainty which arose from the Sena insistence for equal power-sharing the new government with the BJP last month.

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(With ANI inputs)