He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of three parties - Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it. Addressing a rally in the Muslim-dominated textile town of Malegaon in Nashik district of north Maharashtra, Thackeray also said that deliberate attempts were on to provoke Rahul Gandhi.