Lucknow, Nov 16 (IANS)The Samajwadi Party's Maharastra unit chief Abu Asim Azmi was Monday all praises for master blaster Sachin Tendulkar for declaring that he was an Indian first and then a Maharashtrian. Azmi also hailed his party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav for dumping Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) rebel Kalyan Singh.

Azmi was speaking to mediapersons at the Lucknow airport on his arrival from Mumbai Monday evening.

Azmi is to be felicitated by the Samajwadi Party at a special function here Tuesday for taking his oath in the Maharastra state assembly in the national language, Hindi. For this, he had to face the wrath of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) members, who assaulted him on the floor of the house last week.

'I admire Sachin Tendulkar to have not got cowed down by Shiv Sena's intimidation tactics and having proudly declared that he was an Indian first,' said Azmi.

'Sachin's remark must make the Sena ruffians understand that after all, Maharastra is like any other state - a part of the Indian nation,' he added.

Asked to comment on the parting of ways between Mulayam and Kalyan, he said: 'I welcome my party president's decision to distance himself from the man who was responsible for demolition of the Babri Masjid. I wonder what had led him to shake hands with Kalyan Singh, but thankfully realisation dawned on my Netaji, who finally decided to part ways with that man.'

Azmi was confident that the move would go a long way in bringing Muslims back to the Samajwadi fold.

'I am sure that Muslims who had chosen to distance themselves from the SP because of this reason, would once again return to stand by Mulayam, whose contribution to the cause of minorities was unmatched,' Azmi said.