Amid talks of patch-up with Uddhav, Raj Thackeray meets CM Devendra Fadnavis at Mumbai hotel
The meeting between Raj Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis comes at a time when the Shiv Sena (UBT) has been hinting that an alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was on the cards.
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The meeting between the two leaders took place at Taj Lands End in Bandra and lasted over an hour. (Express Archive Photo By Ganesh shirsekar)Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday held a surprised closed-door meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, indicating that he may be considering an alliance with the BJP-led Mahayuti government instead of the highly-speculated alliance with cousin Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT).
The meeting between the two leaders took place at Taj Lands End in Bandra and lasted over an hour. The meet was neither pre-announced nor part of either leader’s official schedule.
Sources said Raj was supposed to attend another meet at Hindmata at 10 am, but he changed plans and reached the Bandra hotel by 9.40 am. CM Fadnavis, too, reached the hotel soon.
While the MNS and the BJP called it a courtesy meet to discuss development-related work, minister Sanjay Shirsat of Eknath Shinde-led Sena said that it cannot be a courtesy meet. “One can see many U-turns in politics… Such alliances have to be done to strengthen a party or expand it. We had given an offer (of alliance) to Raj saheb earlier and he can very well fight the civic body polls… this would be our request,” he said.
Soon after the MNS chief met the CM, MNS leaders Sandeep Deshpande and Amey Khopkar met Shinde Sena minister Uday Samant, raising many eyebrows. However, Deshpande said he was not aware of the Raj-Fadnavis meeting.
Claiming that the two leaders are good friends, BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay said, “The meeting could have been related to development work.”
Sena UBT leaders Ambadas Danve and Anil Parab and BJP minister Nitesh Rane downplayed the meeting saying that it need not be necessarily about politics and could be personal or related to development works.
After meeting Fadnavis, Thackeray met with the party’s senior leaders from Thane, Mumbai and Palghar where he reportedly asked them to not comment on recent developments.
The development comes after two months of strategic signalling by the Shiv Sena (UBT) to reunite the Thackeray cousins under a unified “Marathi manoos” banner. Uddhav, son Aaditya, and senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders such as Sanjay Raut urged a reconciliation, claiming the larger cause of Marathi identity and regional pride warranted it. However, the MNS maintained silence about the possibility of an alliance.
In an April 19 podcast, Raj hinted that he prioritises Maharashtra over personal disagreements, even as his party clarified that unity on issues does not mean electoral alliances. On June 5, Raj’s son Amit remarked that “alliances are not formed through media sound bites”.
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