Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday met Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde at the latter’s residence in Mumbai. This was their first face-to-face interaction since last month’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.The meeting, held at Shinde’s official residence Nandanvan, covered a range of issues, a functionary from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena told PTI. However, the details of the meeting were not made public.MNS had extended its supported Shinde’s Sena in Kalyan-Dombivli.Last month, Shinde had praised Raj Thackeray saying he never looked at personal gain and had always taken decisions from a broader perspective. “MNS has supported Shiv Sena for development in Kalyan-Dombivli. Earlier too, MNS was with us (Mahayuti) in LS and assembly elections. The alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena is not just for now. Now MNS has also participated in it. We are seeing who benefited and who lost from the (UBT Sena-MNS) alliance, Raj has never looked at personal gain,” he had said.“He has always taken decisions from a broader perspective. He had supported PM Modi on development. He had also supported us in the assembly elections. Raj Thackeray values feelings of his workers,” Shinde said.Raj Thackeray’s recent outreach comes amid visible discontent within the MNS, with a section of its leaders publicly expressing disappointment over what they see as inadequate support from the Shiv Sena (UBT) during the civic polls.The meeting follows the high-stakes BMC contest that saw the Thackeray cousins briefly reunite after nearly two decades, only for their joint effort to fall short. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious, ending the almost three-decade dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena led by the Thackeray family.
