Modi drops by at Uddhav’s, leaders try to bury hatchet

Two days after Shiv Sena mouthpiece criticised him for being `narrow minded’ in the rescue efforts conducted by him at Uttarakhand, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi called on Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s Bandra residence.

Two days after Shiv Sena mouthpiece criticised him for being `narrow minded’ in the rescue efforts conducted by him at Uttarakhand, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi called on Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s Bandra residence.

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The unscheduled meeting during Modi's first Mumbai visit after his selection as BJP’s campaign chief is seen as move by him to reach out to Sena, Thackeray. It could also pave the way for Sena’s support to Modi’s attempts to position himself as prime ministerial candidate of the BJP led coalition for 2014 general elections.

In the formal meeting that lasted 15 minutes, Thackeray told Modi that there were no differences between the two and he was not against the latter, said the sources.

For Modi, Sena’s support is significant to some extent, as the Uddhav Thackeray led party had so far not backed him eventhough it is one of the oldest National Democratic Alliance constituent that advocates hardline Hindutva.

Earlier, addressing top brass of the state BJP Modi said that only rallies by him would not win them elections and they will have to put in efforts. During his day-long visit to Mumbai, Modi also participated in an interactive session organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry and released a book `Beyond a billion bullets’ at a function organized by BJP’s Mumbai unit.