In a interesting turn of events in the state's politics, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray greeted Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday. The meeting followed by just a day after Fadnavis, in a casual comment, publicly extended the invitation to Thackeray to join the ruling alliance.
The 20-minute meeting was conducted in the chamber of Legislative Council Chairperson Ram Shinde. Uddhav Thackeray was accompanied by his son and ex-cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray.
Aaditya says that the main agenda for the meeting was to give Fadnavis a set of columns by editors and journalists who are against the state's three-language formula from Class 1 onwards.
"Today we provided him with a collection of reasons why there cannot be a policy of three languages from class one as authored by numerous journalists and editors." Aaditya said.
Throughout the discussion, a number of important issues reportedly came up, such as the contentious language policy and the appointment of a Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, which is an issue of contention.
Uddhav Thackeray had also handed over a book called 'Why do we need Hindi?', an anthology of pieces written by some of the leading editors in Maharashtra, an indication of resistance to what is seen as language imposition. Though Fadnavis received the publication, he is reported to have instructed that one be sent to Narendra Jadhav, who chairs the committee which is to assess the state's language policy move.
The meeting came after a raising-of-an-eyebrow remark by Fadnavis a day before at a farewell gathering for Ambadas Danve, the outgoing Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. Addressing the function, the BJP leader announced that the ruling party had no intention of moving to the Opposition benches until 2029, but added that Thackeray could, if he wished, think about joining the ruling side.
"At least until 2029, there is no room for us to come there (Opposition). Uddhav Ji can consider the room coming to this side (ruling party) and that can be considered differently, but there is no room at all for us to come there (Opposition)," Fadnavis had said.
This meeting of the two leaders follows closely after Uddhav Thackeray reconciled with his cousin Raj Thackeray, a political thaw between the divided Thackeray cousins after over 20 years. The development indicates a possible change of political games as the Mumbai civic polls approach, with both Thackerays potentially looking at new alliances in the changing political script of the state.
