Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maharashtra Unit Chief Chandrakant Patil has made startling statement saying that his party is still open to joining hands with the ruing party Shiv Sena. ALSO READ | 'Don't Interfere': Election Commission Pulls Up Jammu & Kashmir Lt Governor For Remarks On Poll Timeline 

While speaking to the media, Patil reportedly said "even today we are willing to join hands with Sena for the welfare of the public. We can form the government together but, that does not mean we will fight the elections together."

Patil went on to say that "Shiv Sena is on cloud 9, therefore, it doesn't seem that they will agree to come together."

BJP's offer to Shiv Sena for joining BJP - NDA government has come at the time when Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra comprising of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP is facing cracks among the ties.

The scuffle among the parties started to brew up when former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tried to distance the party from Shiv Sena Government's handling of Coronavirus pandemic. The rift in the three party alliance surged to a heated level when senior leaders Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat publically admitted that there were certain differences with the ways the government functions.

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The Congress demanded the ruling party granting the old national party a bigger stake in the decision-making process. They expressed their  grievances to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray indicating cracks in the alliance.

In 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party had contested the polls together however, Uddhav Thackeray-led party joined hands with Congress and NCP. The three parties together formed a Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA government) after the BJP allegedly did not keep the power - sharing promise and Chief Minister's post to Shiv Sena.