Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Thursdaysaid that his party would not mind breaking alliance with the BJP if the latterfails to give half seats to Shiv Sena to contest in the upcoming MaharashtraAssembly election. "BJP will have to respect the fifty-fifty formulae thatwas decided in presence of Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis. I am not talking of breaking alliance but what Diwakar Raote has saidis not wrong," Sanjay Raut told ANI.

On Wednesday, Shiv Sena leader Raote, who is also a ministerin Maharashtra government, had claimed that the pre-poll alliance between ShivSena and BJP could break if Sena is not given equal number of seats by the BJP.It is to be noted that the BJP and Shiv Sena had failed to stitch an alliancebefore 2014 Assembly election and both contested separately. The two parties,however, joined hands to form the government after none of them managed to winthe majority on its own.

On Tuesday (September 17), Zee Media had reported that thetussle between the Shiv Sena and BJP over seat-sharing has increased ahead ofthe 288-member Maharashtra Assembly election 2019. Sources told Zee Media thatthe Shiv Sena has reiterated its condition of the '50-50 formula' for apre-poll alliance with the BJP. It is learnt that the BJP is unwilling to leavemore than 124 for the Shiv Sena.

For his part, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray hasreportedly asked his party leaders to remain prepared to contest the electionalone. Shiv Sena has also started the process of selection of interestedcandidates in all the seats including Nagpur. In all the seats, the party hasstarted the interview of its interested candidates.