The Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah called on the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday at his residence where both leaders held discussions for over two hours.
Though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accompanied Mr. Shah to Matoshree, he was kept out of the talks. The BJP’s state unit chief Raosaheb Danve was not involved at all.
Wednesday’s meeting was part of Mr Shah’s efforts to reach out to allies ahead of the 2019 general elections. The marathon meeting was meant to amend the ongoing bickering and tension between both parties and an attempt to get Sena to withdraw its decision to go solo in future elections.
While none of the leaders spoke to the media after the meeting, sources within the Sena said the BJP chief heard out the grievances of Mr. Thackeray. “The meeting was originally planned for 30 minutes only, but it lasted for about two hours. Keeping state leadership out of discussion was also one of the demands of the Sena as it wanted to speak only to top BJP leadership,” said the source.
Ahead of the meeting in the evening, Sena mouthpiece Saamna had in its editorial this morning questioned the BJP’s outreach programme after suffering defeats in bypolls, and asserted that it would fight all upcoming elections alone.
“The prime minister is touring the world and BJP chief Amit Shah is going around the country as part of their sampark programme. Shah will be meeting NDA allies. However, what exactly will he do?” asked the editorial. It said the BJP has lost connect with the people.
“Winds of change of governance are blowing in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Change of governance is inevitable in Maharashtra as well. Amit Shah intends to win 350 seats in the Lok Sabha on the BJP’s own strength. He says Ram Mandir will be built then. His stubbornness needs to be saluted,” the editorial had said. It noted that the BJP had broken contact with TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh and questioned if building an equation with him once again will be part of Shah’s outreach programme.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Shah, along with Mr. Fadnavis, called on actor Madhuri Dixit and industrialist Ratan Tata as part of the party’s Sampark se Samarthan (Contact for Support) campaign. He was also scheduled to meet playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. However, it was cancelled as she was unwell.
Mr. Shah will be travelling to Chandigarh on Thursday to call on Shiromani Akali Dal leaders Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal.
