It is the INDIA bloc, not just MVA, which must decide on any new alliance partner in Maharashtra: State Congress chief

With increasing buzz about a possible political alliance between the Thackeray cousins, the Maharashtra Congress has expressed reluctance to join hands with any party that has a polarisation agenda.

Constitutional values and secularism are non-negotiables for the Congress, the party’s State chief Harshwardhan Sapkal told The Hindu when asked about the possibility of a partnership with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. “We are strictly against polarisation... If someone wants to be a part of the alliance, they will have to agree with Constitutional values,” he said, though he made it clear that there has not yet been any proposal for the MNS to join the alliance.

He emphasised that any decision on partnership with the MNS is not up to the Congress alone, nor is it a call for t