Modi with Uddhav Thackeray Modi with Uddhav Thackeray

A day after it emerged as a distant second party in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena on Monday said the "Modi wave was more like froth" and that there is no clear mandate to any party in the state.

"In some cases where we thought there was a wave for a particular party, it turned out to be nothing more than froth that receded before it reached the shores," an editorial in Sena's mouthpiece Saamna said.

"There is no clear mandate for a single party, but we congratulate those who are blowing their trumpets in celebration," the editorial said in an apparent dig at the BJP, towards which the Uddhav Thackeray-led party is also making reconciliatory gestures.

The BJP emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra with 123 seats, 22 short of a simple majority in the 288-member Assembly. The party chief Amit Shah on Sunday attributed the win in both Maharashtra and Haryana to a "Modi wave still alive like a tsunami".

"We respect the mandate of the people, but are people satisfied with this verdict? The state is again facing uncertainty, anarchy," the Sena, which won 63 seats, said in its editorial.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena, 'natural allies' for 25 years in Maharashtra despite an acrimonious split before the October 15 elections, are likely to form the next government in the state. Sources in the BJP on Sunday evening said Thackeray has been informed of the saffron party's decision.

Thackeray also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah on Sunday to congratulate them for their massive victory, breaking the ice between the two former allies since their break-up last month.