'We are the big brother and will remain so': Shiv Sena on BJP alliance

New Delhi, Jan 28: The Shiv Sena on Monday said that it is the senior partner in the alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra and will always remain so.

"We are the big brother in Maharashtra, we were the big brother and will stay the big brother," Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was quoted saying by ANI.

Raut said that the party demands the centre to raise the income tax slab to Rs 8 lakh in line with 10 per cent reservation for EWS of General category in the upcoming interim budget.

"We discussed Rafale, issue of drought in Maharashtra. Udhav Thackrey Ji said on the 10% EWS quota to General Category that people with annual income of 8 lakh must be exempted from paying Income Tax. Since you have labelled them poor, they must be exempted," Raut was quoted as saying by ANI.

Till 2014, the BJP and Sena, allies for long, used to have an understanding under which the former would contest a larger share of Lok Sabha seats and the latter would get a greater number of Maharashtra Assembly seats to fight.

In this way, both parties took the role of elder and younger sibling in the general and state polls in their political "brotherhood".

The 2014 Assembly polls, however, ended this "sibling" agreement as the BJP, on the back of a strong Narendra Modi wave and contesting alone, won 122 seats against the Sena's 63 in Maharashtra.

The BJP went on form a government in the state under Devendra Fadnavis and the Sena had to contend being the junior partner.