The Shiv Sena on Sunday said its chief Uddhav Thackeray held the “remote control” of power and saluted NCP leader Sharad Pawar for halting the “BJP’s march”, sending out troubling signals to its bigger ally ahead of government formation in Maharashtra.

The comments came at a time the Sena’s pitch for the chief minister’s chair has complicated government formation efforts and the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have informally nudged it to abandon the BJP and form the ministry with their support.

In a column in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, party MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said it had not yet been decided who would form the government and that “bombs will explode after Diwali”.

“Parantu nischit taur be satta kaun sthapit karega, ye tai nahi hua hai (But it hasn’t yet been decided with certainty who will form the government),” Raut wrote. “The (Sena) tally of 56 seats is relatively low but the remote control of power in Maharashtra has come into Uddhav Thackeray’s hands.”

Raut’s statements came a day after the Sena staked claim to the chief minister’s chair and demanded a written assurance from the BJP about a “50-50” power-sharing arrangement, which it said had been agreed before the Lok Sabha polls.

While the Sena has won 56 seats, the BJP has bagged 105 and their smaller partners at least 2, giving the alliance 163 of the state’s 288 seats. The NCP has 54 seats, the Congress 44 and the smaller allies 5, for a coalition total of 103.

Raut claimed the BJP had contested 164 of the 288 seats along with the smaller allies to try and restrict the Sena’s tally and secure a majority on its own.

“People rejected their plan. Despite winning 106 (sic) seats, the sword is hanging over the BJP’s head. Tension is writ large on the face of (chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis,” he wrote, appearing to gloat at the BJP’s discomfiture.

Raut slammed the BJP for claiming that the Opposition would be reduced to 20-25 seats and lauded “fighter” Sharad Pawar for halting the BJP’s march “single-handedly”.

“In 2014, Uddhav Thackeray had blocked the BJP’s march. This time the job has been done by Sharad Pawar. This is the speciality of Maharashtra,” he wrote, seeking to invoke Marathi pride.

Along with Raut’s column, the newspaper reproduced a cartoon that seemed calculated to rile the BJP. It showed a tiger (the Sena symbol) wearing a clock (the NCP symbol) on a chain round its neck while holding a lotus (the BJP symbol) in one hand and smelling it.

Raut, who had tweeted the cartoon on Friday, wrote that it reflected the post-poll scenario in Maharashtra.

“Who will be chief minister, whose government will it be and how? There’s been no discussion on this so far. These bombs will explode after Diwali,” he wrote.

All this, along with Raut’s praise of Pawar and invocation of Marathi pride, is being seen as a signal that the Sena is no longer devoid of options such as a tie-up with the Opposition alliance to secure the chief minister’s seat.

The Congress and the NCP, however, do not really believe that the Sena can summon the courage to antagonise the BJP at a time Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are in control of the central government and the investigating agencies. But that hasn’t deterred them from fishing in troubled waters.

Both the Congress and the NCP have privately sent feelers to the Sena leadership suggesting the party dump the BJP and form the government with their support.

Sources say the Congress and the NCP do not want to make a public offer yet for it can become a source of embarrassment and a political handicap in future if the Sena sticks with the BJP.

While Pawar has repeatedly said the mandate for the Congress-NCP is to sit in the Opposition, senior Congress leaders such as Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat have dared the Sena to first break away from the BJP.

The Congress is aware of its ideological incompatibility with the Sena — a militant Hindutva party — and will only extend outside support if the non-BJP experiment takes shape, but the NCP might join the government.

The Congress and the NCP are primarily interested in vitiating the Sena-BJP relationship, for any government headed by the Sena with their support will sow suspicion in the BJP’s mind for ever.

Like the BJP, though, the Congress-NCP believes that the Sena is merely trying to drive a hard bargain for plum portfolios.