Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday rejected the suggestion of AIMIM for an alliance with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), saying those who bow before the grave of Aurangzeb cannot become Maharashtra's ideal and dubbed the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party as the "B team" of the BJP.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Imtiaz Jaleel has caused a flutter in political circles by suggesting an alliance with the MVA, saying the dispensation can become a "comfortable car" from the three-wheeled autorickshaw which can prevent the BJP from coming to power.
"The AIMIM has a secret alliance with the BJP which was proved in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal elections. The AIMIM is a 'B' team of the BJP and will remain so. The MVA is a three-party alliance and there is no room for a fourth partner," Mr. Raut told reporters.
He said MVA partners revere Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj while AIMIM bows before Aurangzeb- the 17th century Mughal emperor who had kept Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in captivity in Agra before the latter managed to escape.
In the Hindutva narrative, Aurangzeb is portrayed as a fanatic who unsuccessfully tried to crush Chhatrapati Shivaji in Deccan.
Mr. Raut also mocked Union minister and BJP MP Raosaheb Danve for claiming that 25 disgruntled MLAs of MVA were ready to boycott the ongoing Budget Session and that several MLAs are in touch with BJP and will cross over once elections draw close.
"He (Mr. Danve) might be intoxicated due to Holi festivities. If he is out of (drunken) stupor after Holi, he may not remember what he had said," Mr. Raut said.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Jaleel had said that another wheel can be added to the three-wheeled autorickshaw of the MVA to make it a "comfortable car".
"There is no power left in them (Shiv Sena) to defeat BJP single-handedly. That's why they need the support of Congress and NCP. I propose that let's add another wheel to the autorickshaw (of Maha Vikas Aghadi) and make it a comfortable car. We have expelled the corporator who had opposed singing of 'Vande Mataram' (in the Aurangabad municipal corporation) and he joined NCP now," Mr. Jaleel, who heads the Maharashtra unit of AIMIM, told a Marathi news channel.
The Aurangabad MP had rejected that the AIMIM was a 'B' team of BJP.
