Shiv Sena on Wednesday said that Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu’s decision to reject the Opposition’s impeachment petition against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was not surprising, PTI reported.

In an editorial piece in its mouthpiece Saamana, the party accused its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, of hollowing out “the four pillars of democracy” like termites. The Shiv Sena warned the BJP that “nobody can rule for long after having lost the trust of the people”.

The Shiv Sena took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s National President Amit Shah, sarcastically quipping that only their words possessed merit nowadays.

“Naidu says the importance, rights, freedom and prestige of judiciary should be retained,” Mid-Day reported, quoting from the Saamana editorial. “But, who is finishing this prestige?”

The party alleged that the judiciary was not functioning efficiently, and was ignoring “the crimes of big politicians”.