Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday downplayed the meeting between MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He said maintaining communication is a tradition in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Pawar said "“Many leaders meet one another as well as with the Chief Minister, irrespective of whether they are in power or not. Maintaining communication with each other is the tradition of the State. There is no need to give a political angle to this meeting."
Raj Thackeray met Fadnavis at the latter’s official bungalow, Varsha, in south Mumbai. The meeting came a day after the first joint contest by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s MNS in the BEST Employees’ Co-operative Credit Society elections ended in a defeat. The joint panel failed to win any of the 21 seats.
Earlier, Fadnavis had accused the two parties of politicising the credit society polls around the “Thackeray brand.” There have been talks of a possible alliance between UBT and MNS for upcoming local body elections, particularly after the cousins appeared together last month on the issue of Marathi identity and the “imposition” of Hindi in the state.