Amit Shah’s meeting with Sena aimed at placating ally; will meet Madhuri Dixit, Ratan Tata, too

Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) president Amit Shah, who arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday morning, will call on actor Madhuri Dixit, industrialist Ratan Tata and singer Lata Mangeshkar, before his meeting with political ally Shiv Sena’s chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Shah will be accompanied by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state president Raosaheb Danve and education minister Vinod Tawde at all these meetings.

Shah’s meeting with Dixit is slated at 12.30pm at her Juhu residence. At 4.30pm, he will meet Tata at his Colaba home, and then visit Mangeshkar at her home on Peddar Road at 5.30pm.

The meeting with Thackeray is scheduled for 7pm at Matoshree, the Sena’s chief home in Bandra (east). The allies have not revealed the agenda for the meeting, but it is learnt that the BJP president is keen on getting the Sena on board for the 2019 general elections.

Shah’s visit is being seen as the BJP’s bid to placate its sulking ally, days after the bitterly contested Palghar bypoll. The Sena, however, does not seem to be in a mood for any reconciliation, as made evident in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, which has criticised and mocked the BJP on the day of Shah’s visit.

However, a section of Sena leaders admitted that much of this is public posturing and that an alliance could be worked out ahead of the 2019 elections, to cut losses in the face of a united opposition formed by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.