In a big blow to the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, Samajwadi Party has decided to exit the alliance. Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi on Saturday announced that his party has decided to sit out of the alliance after the dust-biting debacle in the recently concluded Assembly polls. According to reports, the Samajwadi Party is upset over Shiv Sena-UBT reportedly expressing support to those who demolished Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in their mouthpiece 'Saamana.'
Abu Azmi said, "They (Shiv Sena - UBT) were saying that they have become secular now - as they were in alliance with Congress, NCP-SP and SP. After they lost, they started doing what they used to do. I think Maha Vikas Aghadi will not continue if such things happen..."
The Maha Vikas Aghadi won 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. However, it won only 49 of the 288 seats in the November 20 state polls, results of which were declared on November 23. The Shiv Sena (UBT) emerged victorious on 20, Congress on 16, NCP (SP) on 10, Samajwadi Party on two, while one seat went to the CPM.
Cracks had already emerged in the opposition after the drubbing it received in the Maharashtra assembly polls, with Shiv Sena (UBT) saying the Congress got overconfident after the Lok Sabha elections. Ambadas Danve, the Leader of Opposition in the state legislative council, also claimed some Congress leaders started deliberating on portfolios even before winning the polls, while "ten leaders were keen on becoming chief minister". Danve said had Uddhav Thackeray been the chief ministerial face of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, 2-5 per cent votes would have swung in its favour.
Upset over being allotted only two assembly seats in Maharashtra, Samajwadi Party's state president Abu Asim Azmi before the polls had criticised Congress of not learning any lesson from its defeat in Haryana.
