It was a day of political upheavals in Maharashtra, as the BJP called off its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena and the NCP pulled the plug on the Congress government led by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday, just weeks ahead of the state assembly elections.

The stage is now set for at least a four-cornered contest, even as the BJP indicated that it would not target the Sena in its campaign. However, that did not stop Sena leaders from branding the BJP as ?betrayers?.

Announcing the decision to split from the Sena after seat-sharing talks collapsed, state BJP chief Devendra 25-yr marriage with Sena is over, announces BJP Fadnavis said, ?The Shiv Sena is not willing to consider the concerns of BJP and allies, making it impossible to continue the relationship… We will continue as friends.?

The Sena wanted 151 of the total 288 seats, setting aside 123 for the BJP and 14 for the smaller allies of the ?mahayuti? (grand alliance) ? Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Republican Party of India, Rashtriya Samaj Party and Shiv Sangram. It also wanted the Chief Minister?s post.

The formula was not acceptable to the BJP, which demanded 135 seats for itself and 18 for the smaller allies. The BJP was ready to scale down its demand to 126 seats, on the condition that the Sena should agree to 145-147 seats. But Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray refused to climb down from the party?s ?Mission 151?, as declared by his son Aditya Thackeray.

On Thursday evening, BJP president Amit Shah is learnt to have conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the alliance, founded in 1989 on the common ideology of Hindutva, was not working. Modi is reported to have said that the state leaders should take a decision keeping in mind the party?s larger interests.

?From the very beginning, we had decided that we would not tolerate the Shiv Sena?s high handedness or compromise on the party?s expansion plans,? said a senior BJP leader. Keeping this in mind, the BJP worked towards getting the smaller allies on board, while isolating the Sena.

Fadnavis held a series of meetings with Thackeray to set the stage for an ?equal partnership?. In 1989, it was late Sena chief Bal Thackeray and late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who formed the saffron alliance ? the Sena then got 171 seats and the BJP 117. But the seat-sharing formula in 2009 was altered to 169 for Sena 169 and 119 for BJP.

Meanwhile, both the parties have begun the blame game. ?The BJP had already made up its mind to break the alliance. It was looking for excuses and trying to put the onus on the Sena. They have betrayed us,? said Sena leader Diwakar Raote.

But Fadnavis countered, ?Where is the question of betrayal when it was the BJP which was taking the initiative throughout to make the alliance work… The Shiv Sena stuck to its demand for 150-plus ? it was not willing to compromise on the Chief Minister?s post or seats.?