Uddhav must dump Cong over Rahul's Savarkar remarks: Union minister Danve

Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raosaheb Danve on Saturday said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray must break his party's alliance with the Congress over Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Hindutva ideologue and freedom fighter VD savarkar.

Rahul Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Yatra is currently passing through Maharashtra, on Thursday held a press conference at Wadegaon in Akola district, where he claimed Savarkar helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear, thereby betraying Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of the freedom struggle.

"Thackeray and his son Aaditya must announce if they intend to break the alliance with the Congress. Balasaheb Thackeray spread the message of Swatantryaveer Savarkar across Maharashtra, and now his son and grandson are sitting with a party that insults the freedom fighter," Danve told reporters.

Slamming Rahul Gandhi, the Union minister said, "Such statements have come from a person who has no knowledge of history or its great personalities. The BJP accepts the ideology of Savarkar. He is in our thoughts, our minds, our conduct. He is ours."

The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party constitute the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which ruled the state till June 29 this year.