Caught between its party chief Raj Thackeray’s friendship with Sachin Tendulkar and the national outrage over Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s outbursts against the cricket icon, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has preferred to remain diplomatically silent on the controversy.

A day after Bal Thackeray was condemned by leaders across the nation for his open letter published in the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, slamming Sachin for saying that Mumbai belonged to all, the MNS did not make any comment either in support of Thackeray or Sachin.

“No one from our party will comment on the issue as the letter has been written by Balasaheb. It is their issue, we do not want to comment over it,” said a senior MNS leader.

Though the MNS has commented over editorials published in Saamna in the past, this time, the party is keeping away from the contentious issue. “The editorials and statements by Sena leaders are commented upon, but we have never commented on anything said by Balasaheb,” the MNS leader added.

MNS leaders also said that since Tendulkar was a celebrated Marathi icon and a close friend of Raj Thackeray, the party did not want to add to the controversy. In October 2007, Sachin Tendulkar had attended an inaugural function of ‘Maharashtra Dharm’ organised by Raj at Shivaji Park where he read out his father Prof Ramesh Tendulkar’s poem ‘Prajakt’.

Meanwhile, Sena cadres stood by their party chief on Tuesday. “Balasaheb has been talking in an upfront manner for over 40 decades. Moreover, Sachin is not India,” said a Sena leader, adding that the MNS, which was aggressively snapping at the heels of the Shiv Sena, had not reacted to Tendulkar’s comments despite Raj’s earlier attacks on actress and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Jaya Bachchan and SP MLA Abu Azmi for making such statements.

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