By IANS,
Mumbai : Terming Shiv Sena’s support to Pranab Mukherjee for the president’s post as “unfortunate”, Maharashtra’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Sudhir Mungantiwar ruled out any possibility of his party severing ties with its National Democratic Alliance partner.
Mungantiwar told reporters here that the Shiv Sena-BJP-RPI (Republican Party of India led by Ramdas Athawale) alliance would contest the 2014 assembly polls in the state together and that the BJP was not feeling “insecure” about Sena’s increasing “closeness” with the Congress party.
“We (Shiv Sena-BJP and RPI) will contest 2014 assembly elections in the state together. Shiv Sena is an independent party and we respect their decision (on supporting Pranab),” Mungantiwar said.
However, he said that the Sena’s decision to support Mukherjee will only encourage the Congress party.
“There is an anti-Congress wave in the country. We cannot take a decision that will strengthen Congress-NCP and because of which our votes will get divided,” he said.
“If Pranab Mukherjee has assured Shiv Sena that after becoming president he would hang Afzal Guru then it’s a good thing,” he said.
Mungantiwar also accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) of protecting Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the 2001 parliament attack case.