With the Assembly Polls knocking at its door, politics in Maharashtra seems to be taking an interesting turn as Shiv Sena expresses its discontentment over BJP’s ultra-nationalism.

The Shiv Sena on Monday took a swipe at its senior ruling alliance partner, saying since the BJP had already decided everything, only the formality of pressing the EVM button was left in the name of elections. The Sena made its displeasure known in an editorial, overflowing with sarcasm, in the party mouthpiece Saamana.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party appeared critical of BJP president Amit Shah’s plan to push the nationalistic narrative ahead of next month’s Maharashtra Assembly polls.

At a rally in Mumbai on Sunday, Shah made it clear that the Modi government’s decision to abolish the special status for Jammu and Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 will be a key plank of BJPs Maharashtra campaign.

“Shah has already announced that Devendra Fadnavis will continue to remain the Maharashtra chief minister after the elections. He has also certified that Fadnavis has made progress in the fields of investment, agriculture, education, industries and healthcare. Hence, the only formality now left is to press the EVM button,” the Sena said.

The party also berated Opposition Congress and NCP for “doing little” for people of the state.

“Congress party is like a patient admitted in an ICU, while NCP is struggling to stay relevant,” it said. Does the Congress even have a ground level network of party workers, it added.

The Sena also sought to convey the message that it delivered where the two opposition parties failed, despite it being in the government. “There were issues of development, unemployment, messy implementation of farm loan waiver scheme and crop insurance. Despite sharing power, Shiv Sena continuously followed up these issues and addressed the grievances of people,” the party said

Assembly elections will be held in Haryana and Maharashtra in a single phase on October 21. Counting of votes will take place on October 24 and the results will be out on the same day, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Saturday.

In the 2014 Maharashtra assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party with 122 seats and the Shiv Sena, which also fought separately, secured 63. The Congress secured 42 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 41 seats while others managed 20.

The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party will contest 125 seats each of the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, while other allies will contest the remaining 38 in the polls this time.