Mumbai: Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray had second-round meetings with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge on his third day of Delhi tour. The discussion, according to sources, centred on Maha Vikas Aghadi’s CM candidate and seat sharing formula for the upcoming state assembly elections.
Uddhav, according to sources in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), is not happy with the developments that took place in Maharashtra during the Lok Sabha elections. The state Congress leaders in some of the Lok Sabha constituencies did not work for the Shiv Sena UBT candidates. On the contrary, his rank and file worked closely in the constituencies where the Congress fielded its candidates.
Soon after the LS election results, he had submitted some data to the Congress senior leaders, people in the know of the developments say. Now, during his stay in the national capital, Thackeray is said to have raised the issue with Gandhi and Kharge. He is also unhappy with some of the statements made by the state Congress leaders on the issue of seat-sharing formula and the election strategy.
The Congress high command has been trying to keep good terms with Thackeray at any cost. The results, 13 wins out of the 17 LS seats contested, were quite indicative of the approach, say the sources. The Congress top brass in Delhi has also asked its state leaders to maintain utmost caution while speaking publicly on the issue of the MVA strategies and ties with the saffron party.
Thackeray may have been keen to announce his name as the MVA’s CM candidate but the Congress seems to have not gone with it. He is believed to have been told that the CM would be decided only after the assembly elections.
This will help the Congress as well as NCP (SP) to galvanise the party cadre to put in their maximum efforts, a Congress leader said requesting anonymity. According to him, once the CM’s candidate of a particular party is declared, leaders and workers of other parties from the alliance would not offer their 100%.
Meanwhile, Thackeray along with his son Aaditya met Sunita Kejriwal, wife of AAP convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal at the latter’s residence. This was a courtesy visit, said the Sena sources. The party MP Sanjay Raut and AAP MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chhadha were also present at the time. Speaking about the meeting, MP Sanjay Singh said that the former Maharashtra CM extended his support to Sunita Kejriwal and the Delhi CM’s parents.
