Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday, 27 September, a day after Sena leader Sanjay Raut's meeting with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis raised speculations.
Among the issues said to have been discussed at the Pawar-Thackeray meeting, which went on for around 40 minutes, were the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra and the further process of 'unlocking' for resumption of activities, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
Earlier, Raut had dismissed the speculations around his meeting with former Maharashtra CM Fadnavis. According to an NDTV report, Raut confirmed that the meeting was regarding an interview for the Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamana, which is headed by him.
“Devendra Fadnavis is not our enemy. We have worked with him. I met Fadnavis for his interview for Saamana. This was a pre-decided meeting. Even Uddhav Thackeray was aware of this,” Raut was quoted as saying after the meeting.
“Is it a crime to meet Fadnavis, who is a former chief minister and now the Opposition leader in the state Assembly? We have ideological differences but we are not enemies," Raut added.
Fadnavis, too, said that meeting was to discuss the Saamana interview.
Shiv Sena and the BJP have been embroiled in a bitter political war since they parted ways as allies after the Maharashtra elections, with the differences intensifying even further over actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.
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