SP workers hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: The BJP seems to have softened its stance against its former ally Shiv Sena. After having earlier decided not to bow before the Sena due to the break in ties over the chief minister’s post, the Amit Shah-led party is now willing to lend a helping hand to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party on the issue of implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Maharashtra.

“The chief minister should implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Maharashtra without bowing to the pressure from the NCP and the Congress. If any problem arises, we will make a ‘compromise’ with the Sena to save its government,” said BJP leader Ashish Shelar in Nashik.

The BJP and its ally Sena fell out over sharing of the post of the chief minister last month, after the Assembly polls. The Sena then joined hands with ideological rivals NCP and Congress to form a coalition government.

Mr Shelar, who is a former school education minister, also requested the chief minister to implement the ammended law in Maharashtra. “The BJP at the Centre is trying to implement CAB in states. The Sena should give preference to the welfare of the nation instead of its government,” he said.

The Bandra (east) MLA alleged that the Congress, which is one of the constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, is against the implementation of the new law, which will grant Indian citizenship to persecuted members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian  communities, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, before December 31, 2014. The CAB received Presidential assent on Thursday.

However, Mr Shelar also criticised Sena MPs for staging a walk out when the CAB was tabled in the Rajya Sabha for voting on Wednesday. The Sena had supported the bill in the Lok Sabha during its passage on the last Monday.

When asked about sulking BJP leader Eknath Khadse's criticism of certain BJP leaders, Mr Shelar refused to comment. Khadse and another disgruntled BJP leader Pankaja Munde had raised a banner of revolt against former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in a rally on Thursday, without taking his name.

Mr Khadse has been sulking since the defeat of his daughter Rohini in the Assembly polls. Pankaja, a former minister, too blamed senior party leaders for her defeat.