Mumbai: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai on April 3. When asked about it, Nitin Gadkari said it was a private meeting and should not be taken out of political connotations. Gadkari said he had an old family connection with the MNS chief and had arrived to meet him at the invitation of Raj Thackeray.
The Union minister told the press, "It was not a political meeting. My relationship with Raj Thackeray and his family goes back 30 years. I came to see his new house and ask about his mother's well-being. It was a family visit, not a political one." Even though Nitin Gadkari is refusing to make political sense of the meeting, speculation has started after his meeting with Raj Thackeray, who is openly critical of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
It is being told that the BJP and MNS may form an alliance for the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. The meeting between Raj Thackeray and Nitin Gadkari is being seen as linked to this. In recent times, Raj Thackeray has come out as a vocal critic of the Uddhav government in Maharashtra. A day before meeting Nitin Gadkari, he had targeted the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government while addressing a public meeting of the MNS at Shivaji Park. Raj Thackeray had said that the Shiv Sena had contested the last Maharashtra assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, but formed the government in alliance with opposition parties.
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