Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the loss of `bow and arrow' will not make any difference to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena as people will accept its new poll symbol.
Pawar, whose party is Thackeray's ally, also reminded that the Congress led by Indira Gandhi had to pick a new symbol in 1978, but it had no damaging consequences for the party.
He was reacting to the Election Commission's decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena, and award it the original `bow and arrow' symbol.
"Once a decision is given, there can be no discussion. Accept it, take a new symbol. It (loss of the old symbol) is not going to have any impact," the NCP chief advised the Thackeray group.
He recalled that Indira Gandhi faced a similar situation in the aftermath of the Emergency.
"Congress used to have the 'two bullocks with a yoke' symbol. After they lost it, they adopted 'hand' as the new symbol, and people accepted it. Similarly, people will accept the new symbol (of the Uddhav faction)," the veteran politician said. -- PTI