Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met with Opposition leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday amid growing buzz about a reconciliation. The development came hours after the BJP leader shared a tongue-in-cheek ‘offer’ for his former ally to join the Mahayuti. The meeting took place in the chamber of legislative council chairperson Ram Shinde and lasted about 30 minutes. The two leaders had led Maharashtra as allies till 2019 — parting ways over a dispute regarding sharing of the CM’s post.
“Uddhav ji, now we don’t have to do anything till 2029. We have no scope left to come there (to opposition benches). But you have the scope to come here (to treasury benches). We can think about it differently. We will talk differently,” Fadnavis said on Wednesday.
The meeting ostensibly pertained to discussion about the Leader of Opposition post in the Maharashtra Assembly. Source-based reports indicate that Thackeray has demanded that the Speaker allow the post with Bhaskar Jadhav put forward as nominee. Other ongoing issues such as the the three language policy was also reportedly discussed during the brief interaction.
Maharashtra language row
Party leaders said Thackeray had met the Chief Minister to hand over a compilation of news articles opposing the introduction of Hindi as a third language in Maharashtra — citing concerns of alleged linguistic imposition. The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief had earlier clarified that his party is not against the Hindi language but accused certain groups of comparing Marathi people to terrorists and undermining Marathi identity.
INDIA bloc plans meeting
Meanwhile the Opposition INDIA bloc has confirmed plans to hold a meeting at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over the weekend. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said his party has already indicated their availability for the interaction on July 19. An all-party meeting convened by the government is likely to take place on Sunday.
“The meeting of INDIA bloc is going to be held in Delhi. Yesterday, we got a call from K C Venugopal ji. Uddhav Thackeray ji says that there is a need for a meeting of INDIA bloc. We have picked the date of July 19,” he said during a presser on Thursday.
(With inputs from agencies)
