NCP leader Sharad Pawar said on Thursday that leaders of minority communities had said that if his party joined hands with the Shiv Sena, they would not mind, but the BJP must be kept away from power in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena and BJP contested the state assembly polls together in October last year, but divided following disagreement over sharing the chief ministerial post. After long negotiations the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress then came together and formed government in the state, despite the militant Hindutva ideology of the Sena.