After the rout, the Shiv Sena is resigned to the prospect of alliance partner BJP staking its claim over the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. The BJP, with a tally of 46 seats, has secured two seats more than the Sena.

“They haven’t approached us with the demand so far, but we know they would do so in the near future,” sources in the Sena told The Indian Express. They said BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde and state BJP president Nitin Gadkari had called on Sena leader Bal Thackeray soon after election results were out, but had refrained from raising the matter. The issue is likely to be sorted out in the next three days, well before newly elected MLAs of the Sena meet in Mumbai on October 26.

Gadkari excused himself from making his position public. “I don’t want to speak about it yet,” Gadkari told The Indian Express. His senior party colleague Vnod Tawade had, however, told the media in Mumbai on Thursday: “We do not have to stake a claim. It is obvious that the post will be given to us.” While pointing out that Eknath Khadse, elected from Muktainagar in Jalgaon district was already the BJP group leader in the Assembly, Tawade said he might be chosen the next Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Sena Rajya Sabha member and Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut, when contacted, refused to spell out the party response to the expected BJP demand, but said the existing arrangement between the two allies provided that the Sena led the combined Opposition in the Assembly and the BJP-led NDA in the Council.