BJP president Amit Shah has convened a meeting on Friday to discuss the various possibilities that the party would have to explore in case of a fractured mandate. Sources said if the BJP-led alliance fell on a few seats short of majority, it would look to join hands with smaller parties.

The sources said if the BJP alone won more than 125 seats, it would tap its own allies and smaller groups to reach the 145 mark for government formation. However, if it fails to cross the 100-seat mark, Shiv Sena could an ally.

However, following Sena’s repeated attacks on the BJP during the poll campaign, the question doing the rounds is what would BJP expect from Sena before a rapprochement.

The sources said the answer was Sena’s unconditional “apology” for its remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They added that BJP workers, both at the Centre and in the state, were however in no mood to forgive Sena for its attacks on the PM and Amit Shah.

Senior state BJP leader Eknath Khadse said the onus of “friendship” lay with the Sena and added that the election results “would show who the big brother is”. “They are the ones who launched an attack against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he added.

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Another senior leader Vinod Tawde said, “We still believe we will emerge the number one party and form the government.”

A section also believes that if the BJP fails to reach the halfway mark with the help of smaller groups, and Sena places demands that are unacceptable to the BJP, the former would not mind imposition of President’s Rule in the state for the next six months, during which the party would look to garner support to reach the magic figure.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray refused to show his cards. The message from the camp was: “wait and watch”. In a marked shift,

Thackeray said he had always respected Modi. Sources said the core committee of Sena held a meeting where it was decided not to speak against the BJP till the results.

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A senior Sena functionary told The Indian Express: “In campaigns when Sena was fighting BJP it had to adopt an aggressive position to reassert itself against Modi’s campaign. The situation is likely to change after the polls as a lot will depend on numbers.”

He recalled: “In 1999, Sharad Pawar parted ways with the Congress to protest against Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin. But after the elections, both parties joined hands to come to power in the state.”