MNS President Raj Thackeray (R) and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: At a time when talks are underway for an electoral alliance with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS founder-president Raj Thackeray sprang a surprise when he met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis - sparking off a buzz in Maharashtra politics.
Raj, accompanied by his close aide and former minister Bala Nandgaonkar, drove to Varsha, the official residence of the CM at Malabar Hill, and met him for close to 45 minutes.
The meeting comes at a time when Uddhav and Raj have come together on the issue of Marathi language and larger interests of Maharashtra and are very close to clinching a political deal in the run up to the mega local bodies elections.
The meeting comes just after the BJP MLC and Fadnavis aide Prasad Lad and trade unionist Shashank Rao inflicted a defeat to the Utkarsha Panel of the Thackeray cousins in the elections to the BEST Employees Cooperative Credit Society Ltd, where they failed to open an account.
Fadnavis has not commented on the meeting.
However, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that there is nothing amiss. “Why are you worried,” he asked and added, “As an Opposition leader he can meet the chief minister, who is the head of the government…there are issues of Maharashtra…in the past also he had met the chief minister.”
When asked, Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar said people meet the chief minister. “Many meetings are held…whether people in government or opposition, they meet the chief minister…this is part of Maharashtra politics and culture,” he added.