By IANS
Mumbai : The Shiv Sena Tuesday said its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will continue despite its support for the United Progressive Alliance's candidate Pratibha Patil for the presidential elections next month, even as strains in the 22-year-old alliance of the two pro-Hindu parties were becoming apparent.
Addressing a news conference here, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said that his party's decision to back Patil was only due to her Marathi roots and should not be construed as support to the Congress.
"The BJP should not make much out of this. Our ties in Maharashtra are strong and will last," he said.
The Sena's announcement Monday to support Patil rather than Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, an independent candidate backed by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has stunned the ally, and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said her party would review ties with Sena after the July 19 election.
Thackeray said that the Sena had no wish to snap ties with the BJP and did not see any reason to end its 22-year long alliance over this "single issue".
"We still consider BJP a friend and don't see any reasons why the alliance should break due to this single issue," he said.
"This a totally separate decision, and we want to carry on with our ties with the BJP."
While Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari termed the Sena move as "anti-national" and "anti-Hindutva", BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde alleged a Sena-Congress deal behind it.
Replying to charges, Thackeray said: "There is no need for BJP to teach us Hindutva. I can also reply them harshly but I have not chosen to do so, because we still are friends.
"BJP state president should not question the Sena-BJP alliance in the state, The alliance will last," Thackeray said.
He recalled that the Akali Dal, now a BJP ally, had supported the candidature of Congress nominee Zail Singh for the post of president on similar grounds.
Announcing support to Patil, Sena chief Bal Thackeray had said Monday that it was Maharashtra's fortune that a Marathi woman was set to occupy the highest office in the country.