Did Aaditya and Fadnavis meet at a BKC hotel?

Speculations about their meeting were rife as the duo were in the same hotel at the same time for over a couple of hours

MUMBAI: Did chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray have a closed-door meeting at a hotel in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on Saturday evening?

Mumbai, India - Jan. 23, 2019: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Shiv Sena youth wing chief Aditya Thackeray and others during BMC handed over land of mayor banglow for the construction of a memorial for Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in Dadar, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, January 23, 2019. (Photo by Kunal Patil/Hindustan Times) (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

Speculations about their meeting were rife as the duo were in the same hotel at the same time for over a couple of hours. According to party insiders, Aaditya reached Sofitel hotel in BKC around 6 pm, unaccompanied by any senior party leader. Fadnavis reached soon after. While insiders shared that the two had a closed-door meeting, it was denied by respective parties.

An official from the chief minister’s office (CMO) confirmed that Fadnavis was at the Sofitel hotel on Saturday evening but said he did not meet Aaditya. “The two leaders were there for separate programmes and did not have any meeting,” he said.

Aaditya was seen leaving the hotel at around 10 pm. While he waved to media persons, he chose not to speak. Fadnavis had exited the hotel before that, said sources.

Significantly, on Thursday, Fadnavis had a brief closed-door meeting with Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya in the chambers of legislative council chairman Ram Shinde. Saturday evening’s meeting “cannot be a coincidence”, said several leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT) and BJP that HT spoke to, anonymously.

“We do not have information of such a meeting,” said Keshav Upadhye, chief spokesperson of BJP. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sushma Andhare said: “Both of them happened to be in the same hotel for different programmes. The duo may have come face-to-face and may have even shaken hands but there was no meeting.”