Amit Shah meets Uddhav Thackeray: BJP says outcome ‘positive’, Sena adamant on fighting alone

The outcome of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray’s meeting at the latter’s residence on Wednesday was ‘positive’, BJP sources have said.

Apart from the usual meet and greet, the Shah and Thackeray held an over-hour long closed-door meeting at ‘Matoshree’.

“Meeting between BJP and Shiv Sena at ‘Matoshree’ was positive. This is the beginning of reducing tensions between both the parties. Two or three meetings are expected to happen in the coming days,” BJP sources told ANI.

Shah on Wednesday met Thackeray as part of the ongoing ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ (Contact for Support) campaign. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present during the meet.

The BJP has reportedly promised the Sena prominent berths in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle in Maharashtra as well as posts for its senior leaders in the Centre.

While the final decision will be taken by Uddhav Thackeray, party leaders are divided on the alliance. Some senior leaders feel that the alliance should go ahead to ensure Sena remains in power, even if its partial.

Others, however, feel that Sena has lost its edge by playing second fiddle to BJP.

Although Thackeray did not explicitly commit to fighting the elections together, the party’s stance that was made clear by Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut today.

“We know what the agenda of Amit Shah ji is but Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we will contest all upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution,” he said.

We know what the agenda of Amit Shah ji is but Shiv Sena has passed a resolution that we’ll contest all upcoming elections on our own. There will be no change in that resolution: Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena on meeting between BJP President Amit Shah & Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray pic.twitter.com/4wXEk5nDfA

— ANI (@ANI) June 7, 2018

In the recent past, differences have cropped up in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra. The two parties even contested the recently held bypolls in Maharashtra against separately.

Amid the fallout, Fadnavis clarified that although there was no plan to dissolve the alliance, mutual efforts were essential for sustaining ties.

Launched in May this year, the Sampark for Samarthan initiative has devised to generate awareness about the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s achievements in the last four years.

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shah will reach out to 50 people personally with details of initiatives and achievements of the government, whereas each BJP worker is expected to contact at least 10 people.