Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah will meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday, days after the bye-election in Palghar brought differences between the two parties to the fore again, PTI reported.
The two parties, who are ruling Maharashtra in an alliance, fielded separate candidates in the bye-election. The Shiv Sena lost the bye-election to the BJP’s candidate. The Shiv Sena has repeatedly criticised the BJP-led government in Maharashtra and at the Centre over the past several months and often threatened to quit the alliance.
“Amit Shah sought time to meet Uddhav ji,” Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told PTI. “Accordingly, an appointment of tomorrow [Wednesday] evening has been given to him.” The meeting will take place at Thackeray’s home.
While Raut questioned the need for Shah to meet Thackeray after four years, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said it was part of the BJP’s “Sampark for Samarthan [contact for support]” campaign. This has nothing to do with the bye-election, Mungantiwar added.
Raut said: “We showed that we can fight alone when we contested the Palghar bye-poll. We may have lost, but the message has been sent across. We received lakhs of votes where we had never contested an election.”
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