Weeks after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Delhi, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said politics apart, the two leaders still share a good bond.
Uddhav Thackeray, along with Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Cabinet minister Ashok Chavan met with PM Modi on June 8 over a range of issues like Maratha quota, OBC reservation, and Cyclone Tauktae relief for Maharashtra, but it was their one-on-one meeting that drew maximum attention and suggested a thaw between the former allies.
However, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut downplayed the Modi-Thackeray chat.
Raut said both the leaders spoke for about 40 minutes. This shouldn’t lead to speculation that BJP will join hands with the Sena for a government. Shiv Sena’s path is different but there are still has strong personal bonds – between the Thackeray family and Narendra Modi. Politics can be separate but personal ties are strong, Sanjay Raut said.
Look at Sharad Pawar. This is Maharashtra’s tradition – we are people who keep relationships intact, he added.
PM-Uddhav Thackeray meeting had sparked speculations of a rift between Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress and that the Sena was gravitating towards the BJP.
One of the factors contributing to the turmoil was the pronouncements by Congress’s Maharashtra Chief Nana Patole of going solo in the next assembly election, which rattled both the Sena and the NCP.
It is our commitment to each other to run the government for five years. It is not our commitment to contest election together. Elections are three years away. Then we will see who will fight alone, Raut said.
Without Congress, no opposition front will succeed. Today it may be weakened, but it is still the main opposition party of the country. We have to take them along. There is no joy in a 3rd front or a 4th front or a 5th front. We have to strengthen the existing front, said the Rajya Sabha member.
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