Delhi BJP leader condemns Shiv Sena support to Pratibha Patil

New Delhi, June 27 (UNI) Condemning the Shiv Sena on its support to UPA candidate for the presidential elections, Delhi BJP leader Abhimanyu Gulati today said the move smacked of parochialism and narrow mindedness.

The sham of Hindutva and nationalism, which the Shiv Sena had all along been professing, had all of a sudden blown away and its narrow regional mentality exposed, said the BJP leader and People's Rights Front chief in a statement today.

After relishing power, riding piggyback on the BJP's shoulders, both in Maharashtra and at the Centre, the Shiv Sena has now chosen to abandon it and instead vote in favour of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's nominee Pratibha Patil for the President's post, he said.

Such a step by a regional party like the Shiv Sena, while promoting regionalism, has left other members of the NDA stunned and flabbergasted, said the PRF chief adding that the BJP and its allies must immediately shun the company of such parties which have a constricted mentality.

Calling upon all 'Hindutva' forces working for the Shiv Sena to do a rethink on their support to a party which believes in narrow regionalism than national causes, the former Delhi Shiv Sena vice-president said it would be rational to not lend support to someone who often talked of 'Maratha' interests and indulged in embarrassing north Indians.

UNI