Thackeray pats Modi, to meet Vajpayee over dinner today

A day before Bal Thackeray is scheduled to meet A.B. Vajpayee over dinner, the Shiv Sena leader threw his weight behind Gujarat CM Narendra ...

A day before Bal Thackeray is scheduled to meet A.B. Vajpayee over dinner, the Shiv Sena leader threw his weight behind Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, saying his removal would send a “wrong signal”.

Tomorrow, the duo will share the table with former DPM L.K. Advani, BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu and former finance minister Jaswant Singh at the five-star Hotel Renaissance, the venue of the BJP national executive meet.

Initially, it was proposed that Vajpayee and Thackeray, along with select senior BJP and Shiv Sena leaders, will meet separately to take stock of the political situation. But that proposal has been dropped and now the top leaders will have dinner along with the 200-odd delegates.

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A senior BJP leader said Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, Sena youth leader Raj Thackeray, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and former CM Narayan Rane have also been specially invited to the banquet. But Uddhav said, ‘‘it’s an invitation for dinner, there is no political agenda for us.”

	Convention in comfort

			• Rooms booked for 199 BJP leaders at Hotel Renaissance, Powai • Presidential suite for Vajpayee • Special vegetarian fare for leaders who are diabetic or on fast

Tonight, however, Thackeray took on the former PM for raising the Modi issue. ‘‘Where is the need to raise such an issue? Where is the need to remove Modi? It will send a wrong signal…Hindus will be upset and Muslims will be emboldened.’’ Thackeray told Zee News.

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