26 January,2019 09:38 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
There is no official confirmation regarding the dinner between Uddhav Thackeray and Narendra Modi. File pic
Speculation was rife on Friday evening about Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking a lead to end the imbroglio over a pre-poll pact with the Shiv Sena. The political circles said the PM has invited Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to dine with him in New Delhi to break the ice.
On the other hand, people in the Sena camp said Thackeray wanted Modi to come over to his Kalanagar residence to dine with his family. However, there was no official confirmation about the dinner diplomacy from both camps.
BJP leaders said they were not sure about the possibility of a meeting between all NDA partners, or an exclusive one between the PM and Thackeray. Another leader said there could be a possibility of PM meeting NDA partners separately, starting with Thackeray.
A Sena leader said the Modi-Thackeray meeting could be arranged if the Sena chief travels to the capital for special show of his late father's biopic that released on Friday. "Or Modi might be invited to Mumbai for a special show, which could provide a reason for the two leaders to meet formally," said a Sena leader.
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The last time the alliance partners met was at a NDA meeting. The BJP and Sena leadership's second line-up has been at loggerheads over the possibility of a pact. The Sena is more aggressive and has been launching scathing attacks against BJP. Uddhav had even accused Modi of corruption by saying, "Chaukidar chor hai".
However, the BJP has taken a lenient view of the charges and is consistently trying to patch up with the Sena, without which a desirable poll outcomes seems a distant dream. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is trying to not upset Sena. He has happily granted R100 crore to the Thackeray memorial, transferred the land for it and put MMRDA in charge of the ambitious project.
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