Mumbai: In order to mollify estranged NDA allies ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections, BJP president Amit Shah met Udhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief at the latter’s residence here on Wednesday evening.
During over hour long one-on-one meeting, the Sena chief raised many questions and complaints, including the lack of the NDA coordination meeting that were regular feature in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-era.
He is also said to have flagged several complaints against the BJP’s state leadership for their not giving importance to Sena ministers in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet.
“The meeting was positive. This is the beginning of reducing tensions between both the parties. More meetings are being planned in the coming days to improve relations”, a BJP leader requesting anonymity, said. But then the issue of fighting elections together in 2019 remained unresolved, as Uddhav Thackeray did not commit to Amit Shah on that issue.
This was the first meeting at Thackeray’s residence after the BJP chief’s visit last year when he had come around to patch-up cracks in the alliance over support for the presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
Relations between the two parties hit rock bottom in recent times. Last month’s by-elections, where the two allies fought against each other and almost lost both seats, is seen as a trailer of this separation.
Hours before the BJP chief met Udhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena had signalled that Shah won’t have an easy job at hand. “Ties between the people and the BJP have snapped…for the BJP, relationships are business calculations,” an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said on Wednesday.
