Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has said that his party has agreed not to raise the issue of V D Savarkar since the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners hold different views on the late Hindutva ideologue.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray gave a warning to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a public meeting last month, saying that the insult of Savarkar will not be tolerated. In his speech, Thackeray said he considered Savarkar as his idol and hence Gandhi should refrain from insulting him.
Gandhi has often accused Savarkar of apologising to the British to get out of jail, and has routinely shot back at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demands for an apology by claiming he was a Gandhi and not Savarkar to seek mercy.
Let the people decide about the truth of the freedom struggle. There is nothing to be apologetic about. We agreed to disagree and agreed not to raise the issue since our partners hold different views on Savarkar, the former chief minister said.
On being asked if the Savarkar issue had been put to rest by the Congress after it was given on platter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chavan said his party did not provide any issue on platter to the saffron party.