New Delhi [India], May 31 (ANI): Refuting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena alliance breakup, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir on Thursday said that BJP and Shiv Sena are two separate parties, but we have the same ideology.

However, Hansraj further cleared the air stating that they are not quitting the alliance.

"We did fight an election against them. We (BJP and Shiv Sena) are two parties but we have the same ideology. We have an alliance with them and you can have some differences with your partners but that doesn't mean we are quitting the alliance," Ahir told ANI.

Ahir's statement comes hours after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis underscored the importance of mutual efforts to sustain the straining BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state.

Earlier in the day, in the wake of the BJP's defeat in several by-elections, party spokesperson Sambit Patra called on the Congress to introspect rather than celebrate the former's defeat.

The BJP won in Maharashtra's Palghar Lok Sabha constituency, defeating the Shiv Sena by 29572 votes, while it lost in the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). (ANI)

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