This refers to the editorial, “Not the way to protest” (October 14). The BJP failed to restrain its alliance partner, the Shiv Sena, from blackening the face of Mr Sudheendra Kulkarni. Consequently, Maharashtra Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, is likely to be perceived as a helpless head of an inept Government that has been unable to curb vandalism of its ally, despite clear indications that trouble was brewing over former Pakistan Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch.
Incidentally, discontent was simmering ever since the BJP slighted the Sena by allotting fewer seats and less important portfolios. Probably, the current impasse was triggered by the BJP’s decision to perform the ceremony of the proposed BR Ambedkar memorial at Dadar. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was not invited,on the plea that it was a Government event and that Mr Thackeray did not hold any office. This resulted in the Sena boycotting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's functions and blackening Mr Kulkarni's face.