Uddhav, Raj meet for 45 minutes sans party leaders

Cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray held a closed door meeting for almost 45 minutes on Thursday morning after the former went to the latter’s residence at Shivteertha at Dadar in Mumbai. None of the senior party leaders were present for the private meeting, though Uddhav Thackeray called his nephew and Shiv Sena UBT MLA Varun Sardesai for some time.

“Uddhav saaheb arrived at around 11.30 am. The meeting lasted for not more than 45 minutes. Nobody else was present during the meet. Uddhav Saaheb called for Varun Sardesai (sitting MLA from Mumbai, and Uddhav Thackeray’s nephew) later. But he too was not a part of the meeting though,” a leader told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.

The meeting comes amid speculations of an alliance between the cousins for the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra, but also at a time when the Congress has expressed strong objections to the likely inclusion of MNS in the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Refuting speculations about the likelihood of discussion on seat sharing understanding, a senior leader from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said, “Our talks are still at preliminary stages. The local leaders at several places will need to have a few more rounds of talks with each other to get a clearer picture.” A Shiv Sena UBT leader who is a part of the core team of the party for Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region area, said he was not aware of any seat distribution discussion.

Senior leaders from neither of the parties were present during the meeting on Thursday, and said they were not aware of the agenda of the meeting. So far, there has been a preliminary round of discussion between senior MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar and Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut. It was held several weeks ago.

“It is difficult that they would discuss seat sharing. It is too premature for that, is my understanding. Saaheb also did not hold any discussion with either of us in the party. But frankly, we do not know what was the agenda,” a senior Shiv Sena UBT leader said.

A senior leader in one of the parties said the discussion was likely political, and speculated that it might have been about Congress, about the alliance combinations. “The best thing to say right now is a question mark. Beyond the two of them, nobody else knows what it was about,” another leader said.

Over the last few months, the two leaders have been meeting frequently and have been making joint public appearances. This week, the two of them wrote a letter together to the State Election Commission, seeking extension for the deadline to raise objections on the draft voters’ list.