Shiv Sena original `aam aadmi party`: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Shiv Sena is the original aam aadmi party from the days it was founded by Bal Thackeray, party president Uddhav Thackeray said here Monday. "The Maharashtra voter is a common man - Balasaheb (Thackeray) always took the aam aadmi with him in his political career. So the common man in Maharashtra has always been with Shiv Sena," he told media persons in response to queries about the possible impact of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in state politics in the April-May Lok Sabha elections. Since the common masses have always been with the Shiv Sena, it is not worried about any other party, he added. A senior party official later said that Thackeray`s statement referred only to the AAP which is planning to contest elections in Maharahstra and not to the Shiv Sena`s allies or other like-minded parties. "He rightly said that the Shiv Sena is a party of the commoners - we have had vegetable or vada-paav vendors, ticket or flower sellers and other common people from society who made it big in politics and public life thanks to Bal Thackeray," the leader said.