By IANS,
Bangalore : The Bharatiya Janata Party Saturday said it would not break its alliance with the Shiv Sena even though it disagrees with the ally’s ‘Mumbai for Marathis’ stand.
“Do you make or break an alliance on the basis of one issue?” senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu asked at a press conference here, making light of Congress challenge to his party to sever the alliance with the Sena since it did not agree with the ‘Mumbai for Marathis’ policy.
Naidu said people had equal rights to settle anywhere in the country, adding BJP president Nitin Gadkari has made the party stand very clear.
Disagreeing with Sena’s ‘Mumbai for Marathis’ stand, Gadkari has said: “We consider entire India as one unit, including Jammu and Kashmir, irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion.”
Naidu said, “On this particular issue we have differences of opinion with Shiv Sena.”
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, talking to reporters in New Delhi Monday, had dared the BJP to sever its alliance with the Sena “in the interest of accountability” since it did not agree with the ‘Mumbai for Marathis’ stand.
“In the interest of accountability, you (the BJP) must break up any alliance (with Shiv Sena),” Singhvi had told reporters.