Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray had a “chance encounter” with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the two top political leaders of the state awaited a lift at Vidhan Bhawan on Thursday.
A video clip showing the political friends-turned-foes, Thackeray and Fadnavis, engaging in a brief conversation went viral on Thursday. The incident took place on the first day of the state legislature’s monsoon session.
Watch: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and the Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis share the same lift while going to the Vidhan Sabha pic.twitter.com/YmefNTcbGQ
— IANS (@ians_india) June 27, 2024
When asked about the conversation with Fadnavis, Thackeray said at a press conference, “People must have thought of the song, ‘na na karte pyar tumhi se kar baithe’ (I fell in love with you despite denials). But no such thing will happen.”
“Lifts don’t have ears, so it is a good suggestion to have more such meetings in lifts,” the former chief minister added on a lighter note while speaking to reporters in Marathi on Thursday.
According to news agency PTI, Thackeray said that nothing else was to be inferred from the lift encounter as it was an “unexpected meeting”.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Pravin Darekar, who was also in the lift, said, “When the lift doors opened, Fadnavis walked towards the side of the ruling party offices and Uddhav ji walked to the opposition party offices. This means he (Uddhav) has no intention of joining the ruling benches.”
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Shirsat said the meeting between Thackeray and Fadnavis showed that there can be political differences but no animosity.
The current monsoon session of the state legislature is the last one before Maharashtra goes to the assembly polls in four months.
There are reports that the ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP is planning to present a ‘please-all budget’ ahead of the polls.
There is speculation that Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio, is set to table a populist budget after the Mahayuti alliance’s drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
In the last Maharashtra Assembly elections, the ruling alliance won 17 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, while the opposition MVA – comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT) – bagged 30.
