A day after Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi claimed that his party had severed ties with the Mahavikas Aghadi, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aditya Thackeray, a constituent of Maharashtra’s opposition alliance, called him the ‘B team’. The ruling BJP.
“Akhilesh Yadavji is fighting his battle in Uttar Pradesh and I don’t want to comment on him. But the Maharashtra unit here works as BJP’s B team,” Thackeray said on Sunday, adding that he did not want to comment on the recent assembly elections and their results.
“Everyone knows who helped whom in the election,” he attacked Azmi without naming anyone.
Meanwhile, the SP has softened its stance and said it is still a part of the national-level opposition bloc. “The Samajwadi Party is still a part of Bharat Morcha at the national level. We have not broken ties at the national level. As far as Maharashtra is concerned, we cannot contest local body elections with MVA and local units will take the necessary stand,” SP MLA Raees Shaikh said on Sunday.
NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awad also rejected Azmi’s outburst on Saturday. “He is a sensitive person and he said something emotionally. We will talk to him and understand his problem. There is no threat to the unity of MVA,” he said.
On Saturday, quoting a social media post by Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar, a close ally of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, Azmi said Thackeray’s party had reverted to its old position of trying to justify the Babri Masjid demolition. “We have left the MVA. What is the point of continuing the front when there is no uniformity in the issue and adequate consultation with the allies? He said.
Narvekar posted a picture of the Babri Masjid being destroyed on X. The photo showed Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, along with Uddhav and his son Aditya with the caption in Marathi, “Whoever did it, I am proud of them.”
This was purportedly a comment made by the late Bal Thackeray on December 6, 1992, after the Babri Masjid was demolished by car servants in Ayodhya.