Former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday met at an upscale hotel in Mumbai, leading to speculations and conspiracy theories in the state’s political circles.
While some claimed BJP intends to join hands with Shiv Sena, some considered it a plan to bring Uddhav Thackeray-led state government down.
Both the leaders, however, refuted all the claims and said the meeting was to discuss the frameworks of a new series brought by Saamna, a Sena mouthpiece, which aims to interview a handful number of political leaders from all the political parties.
“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,” he added.
Mahatashtra BJP cheif spokesperson Keshav Upadhye also dissented any political angle to the meeting and said, ” Raut wanted to interview Fadnavis for Saamna and this meeting was to discuss how to go about it.”
Raut, who is the executive editor of the mouthpiece, said, “When I had interviewed NCP chief Sharad Pawar, I had said that I will also interview (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi, (Home Minister) Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis.”
The minister told reporters that Devendra Fadnavis is not his or Sena’s enemy and asserted that the party has worked with him previously. Raut also informed the media that the meeting was pre-scheduled and even CM Uddhav Thackeray was aware of it.
Fadnavis also affirmed the meeting on Saturday with Raut was regarding an interview for the Sena mouthpiece
“We have no intention of joining hands with the Shiv Sena or to bring down the government. When it falls on its own, we will see,” Fadnavis was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“My meeting with Raut had no political connotations. He asked me for an interview to ‘Saamana’, to which I agreed. But, I had put my conditions- like the interview should be unedited and I should get to put my own camera during the interview. So we met to discuss its nitty-gritties,” he said.
The two-hour long meeting between Fadnavis and Raut was the first high profile meeting bertween the leaders of BJP and Shiv Sena after their acromonious post-poll break-up last year.
Congress and NCP, meanwhile, have expressed their displeasure over the Fadnavis-Raut meeting. On Sunday, Maharashtra Congress President Balasaheb Thorat and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at latter’s official residence in Mumbai. However, details of the meeting have been kept private by the political parties.