Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a day after CM made a tongue-in-cheek offer to his former ally set to switch sides.
Uddhav Thackeray was accompanied by his son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray when he met Fadnavis in the chamber of legislative council chairperson Ram Shinde. The meeting lasted about half an hour, PTI reported. Further details were not shared by either party.
This may set off more speculation in the state, which has seen a lot of party-switching and political realignments in the past five years in particular.
Also read | ‘Depends on you’: Devendra Fadnavis invites Uddhav Thackeray to switch
The meeting came barely 24 hours after the CM's viral speech at the farewell function for leader of opposition in the council Ambadas Danve. There, Fadnavis told Uddhav Thackeray that the BJP was not likely to join him in the opposition, but he could come over to the ruling side if he wished to.
"Uddhav ji, there is no scope (for a change in government) till 2029. We do not have the scope to come to the other (opposition's) side. You have the scope to come here, and it can be thought about. We can think about it differently," Fadnavis said. Laughter followed.
Timed around Thackeray family reunion
{{/usCountry}}"Uddhav ji, there is no scope (for a change in government) till 2029. We do not have the scope to come to the other (opposition's) side. You have the scope to come here, and it can be thought about. We can think about it differently," Fadnavis said. Laughter followed.
Timed around Thackeray family reunion
{{/usCountry}}The undivided Shiv Sena led by Thackeray parted ways with the longtime ally BJP after the 2019 assembly elections over a dispute on sharing the CM's post.
Later, Eknath Shinde took away a major part of the Sena to form a government with “natural Hindutva ally” BJP. Shinde is currently a deputy CM in the government led by Fadnavis.
The purported offer from Fadnavis comes also when Uddhav reunited with cousin Raj Thackeray after two decades, hoping to find success together in the state's dynamic political landscape, starting with the municipal elections in Mumbai.