Bal Thackeray's son defends BJP

Seeking to blunt his father Bal Thackeray's criticism of its ally, Shiv Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray said the Bharatiya Janata Party has never abandoned its plank of 'staunch Hindutva'.

"The BJP has never abandoned the plank of staunch hindutva. In fact, it (issue) has been binding the two parties for the last two decades," Uddhav told reporters at a dinner hosted by the BJP in connection with its national executive meet, which began in Mumbai on Tuesday.

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The Sena chief, who stayed away from the dinner, has been consistently criticising the BJP for 'giving up its Hindutva plank'.

Uddhav said Thackeray 'would meet top BJP leaders shortly with the decision on the venue to be taken in a day or two'.

Uddhav attended the dinner along with former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi and opposition leader in the Maharashtra assembly Narayan Rane.