Will apologise to House, not to Azmi: MNS

Raj Thackeray-led MNS, whose members assaulted SP legislator Abu Asim Azmi in the Maharashtra Assembly, on Wednesday said they would apologise to the House for their action but not to the MLA.

"We will apologise in the Assembly as it was not our intention to malign the image of the House. However, there is no question of apologising to Azmi," MNS leader Atul Sarpotdar said.

"The whole controversy started because of one person - Abu Asim Azmi. It was not our intention to lower the dignity of the House. What happened was a spontaneous reaction by our MLAs," Sarpotdar said.

Raj Thackeray had issued a statement asking all MLAs in the Assembly to take oath in Marathi but Azmi deliberately chose to take oath in Hindi, Sarpotdar said.

"MNS group leader in Assembly, Bala Nandgaonkar, will speak to Raj Thackeray today on the issue of tendering an apology for Monday's incident and would, during the course of the day, apologise to the House," Sarpotdar said.