Babri post row: Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit like 'B team' of BJP, says Aaditya Thackeray

Hitting back, Thackeray on Sunday said his party’s Hindutva was all-inclusive.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday called the Maharashtra unit of Samajwadi Party the “B team” of the BJP, his remark coming a day after the Akhilesh Yadav-led party said it would quit MVA over a social media post by Uddhav Thackeray’s aide hailing the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.

“Sometimes the state unit of the SP acts like the B team of the BJP. (SP national chief) Akhilesh Yadavji is fighting the battle (against the BJP). But don’t get me started on who the state SP helped in the recent (assembly) polls,” Thackeray told reporters.

On Saturday, the SP’s Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi had hit out at the Shiv Sena (UBT) over a newspaper advertisement and MLC Milind Narvekar’s X post connected to the demolition.

“If anyone in the Maha Vikas Aghadi speaks such language, what is the difference between the BJP and them? Why should we stay with them?” Azmi had asked.

Hitting back, Thackeray on Sunday said his party’s Hindutva was all-inclusive.

“The BJP speaks of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (progress for all), while we do it on the ground. Uddhav Thackeray takes along everybody and people of Maharashtra have seen it,” the Worli MLA and former state minister asserted.