All Shiv Sena MPs of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have decided to donate their one-month salaries for providing relief to the flood-hit in Bihar.

“It is a national issue and we are second to none when it comes to extending humanitarian aid to our fellow countrymen,” Rajya Sabha member and executive editor of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana told The Indian Express. “Our position vis-à-vis Biharis in Maharashtra is contextual to the problem of a lack of employment avenues for the local population, but we have no ill will for people living in different parts of the country.”

On the face of it, whatever Raut says may seem reasonable, but if seen in the backdrop of Raj Thackeray’s latest attempts to tap Marathi sentiments at the cost of the Sena, it is a daring move.

Sources in the Sena said the party leadership was not unduly worried over the threat posed by Raj. They said the Sena was committed to social, cultural and political aspirations of the people of Maharashtra as well as Hindutva, but it was conscious of the fact that the events, which coincided with the birth of Maharashtra and also the Sena, could not be replayed. “No matter who incites Marathi passions, the Sena alone has the wherewithal to encash them during elections,” they added.