Mumbai, Feb 1 (IANS) The Samajwadi Party (SP) Monday came out in support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for supporting the right of north Indians to live in Maharashtra.

State unit chief Abu Asim Azmi, however, told reporters that the Samajwadi Party and RSS were 'like two shores of a river which will never converge'.

'However, I wholeheartedly welcome the RSS stand espousing the cause of north Indians in Mumbai and Maharashtra and for strongly speaking on their behalf,' Azmi said.

Stung by the RSS criticism, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray Monday hit back saying the RSS should 'keep off the issue of Marathis and Mumbai'.

Azmi urged RSS leaders to get the views of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on this issue since it is the ally of the Shiv Sena.

'The Congress, NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) and the BJP are the only three parties which contest elections everywhere in the country, including north India. If their leaders do not heed to public sentiments here, then I am confident the electorate in the north Indian states will give them a fitting reply,' Azmi later told IANS.