By IANS
Mumbai : In a surprise development, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar called on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at the latter’s residence Sunday.
Pawar went to Matoshree, Thackeray’s residence in the suburb of Bandra, just before 1 p.m. and stepped out after nearly two hours. Details of what transpired at the unexpected meeting are not known.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told IANS that it was “a meeting between two great leaders who are also old friends”. Since it was lunchtime, they may have had lunch, Raut said in a lighter vein.
The meeting immediately became the talking point in Maharashtra political circles.
The outcome of the Gujarat elections and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s outburst against Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh over the past three days, have added to the importance of the meeting.
With the Congress faring poorly in Gujarat, the demand for Deshmukh’s scalp could get more vociferous in the coming weeks.
A top Sena source, requesting anonymity, told IANS: “Something dramatic could happen around the New Year.”
The Sena is worried about a possible change of guard by the Congress, if that brings Rane’s name to the forefront. Rane is a former Shiv Sainik who left the party nearly three years ago.
The Sena, especially the Thackerays, hate Rane’s guts for ditching the party at a crucial juncture and also weaning away several disgruntled leaders to the Congress fold.
Politicians here speculated Sunday that the Thackeray-Pawar meeting may have had something to do with keeping Rane out of the chief minister’s post.
Though Pawar and Thackeray had met by chance at a public function around two years ago, this is their first private one-to-one meeting after over a decade, the Sena source said. No aides were present at the meeting.