AURANGABAD: Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday fuelled speculation over possible ties with the BJP in the future after he addressed dignitaries on the dais at a function in Aurangabad as “my former, current and, if we come together, my future colleagues”.
BJP leader and MoS for railways Raosaheb Danve, Union MoS for finance Bhagwat Karad, Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat and Shiv Sena ministers Subhash Desai, Abdul Sattar and Sandipanrao Bhumre were present on the stage.
The Thackeray-led Sena had parted ways with the BJP after the 2019 assembly polls and formed a government with the NCP and Congress.
Later, during a media interaction, Thackeray sought to clarify his statement. “The nature of politics has become ‘vikrut’ (deformed). I wanted to say that politics should be done without any ego about the position,” he said.
Thackeray’s support for Danve’s proposal of a bullet train connecting Mumbai and Nagpur as well as his act of sending wishes to PM Narendra Modi publicly added to the speculation. Thackeray said the Maharashtra government will extend full support to the Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train project.
Danve told the media, “If the two parties come together once again, the voters from Maharashtra will be happy.”
Reacting to Thackeray’s remarks, former CM Devendra Fadnavis told reporters, “He must have expressed his thoughts after realising what kind of people he is working with.... everything is possible in politics, but the state BJP is not eyeing power. We are an efficient opposition party and will continue our work.”
Later, even Sena minister Sattar said that if there is a consensus in continuing Thackeray as the state’s chief minister for the next three years, then the two saffron parties can definitely come together in the coming days.
However, Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought to downplay Thackeray’s comments, saying Danve was everybody’s friend. “When he was state BJP chief, all was well. There is nothing earth-shaking in the comment.”
