Samajwadi Party to quit alliance over Uddhav Sena leader’s Babri Masjid post
The Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit on Saturday said it would quit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance following a post by a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray on the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
The Samajwadi Party has two MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly. The Samajwadi Party’s move came after Sena (UBT) MLC Milind Narvekar gave a newspaper ad and hailed the demolition of the mosque on the 32nd anniversary of the incident on December 6.
“An advertisement was given by Shiv Sena (UBT) in a newspaper congratulating those who demolished Babri Masjid. His (Uddhav Thackeray) aide has also posted on X hailing the demolition of the mosque. We are quitting the MVA,” Maharashtra SP unit chief Abu Azmi said.
“If anyone in the MVA speaks such language, what is the difference between the BJP and them? Why should we stay with them?” Azmi said.
On December 6, Narvekar posted a photo of the demolition of the mosque along with a quote of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray that said, “I am proud of those who did this”. The post had images of Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and Narvekar.
The friction was visible on Saturday as Samajwadi Party MLAs took oath as members of the newly-constituted Assembly while the MVA boycotted the event.
Abu Azmi, who took oath as Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar MLA for the fourth time, said neither was the Samajwadi Party contacted during ticket distribution, nor was there any coordination during the elections.
On MVA MLAs not taking oath, Azmi said, “What do we have to do with this? We were not contacted during ticket distribution, there was no coordination whatsoever during the elections.”
Fissures between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress were also out in the open after the Haryana election debacle. As the BJP stormed back to power in Haryana, Akhilesh Yadav accused the Congress of arrogance and denying it any seats to contest in the polls. The party was also not given any seats in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh elections.