Uddhav Thackeray abroad, Sharad Pawar meets Eknath Shinde

The meeting has raised speculations especially since Uddhav Thackeray, a key figure in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, is out of India on a holiday.

Mumbai: In a key development in Maharashtra political circles, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde here at Varsha Bungalow, the CM's official residence. This was their first meeting since the transfer of power in Maharashtra.

Later in a tweet later, Sharad Pawar said he went to invite the chief minister to the 75th-anniversary celebration of Maratha Mandir, an iconic cinema hall in south Mumbai. “On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Maratha Mandir, Mumbai, the organization will organise a commemorative function. Today I met Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde at his official residence Varsha to invite him for this event,” Pawar said in a tweet.

“Also discussed with Hon’ble CM about organising a meeting to know the problems of Marathi film, theater and art sector artists and artisans in Maharashtra and inviting organizations from film, theater, folk art, channels and other entertainment media to the said meeting,” he said in a follow-up tweet.

"National President and Member of Parliament of the Nationalist Congress Party @PawarSpeaks Saheb today visited Varsha or government residence and received good wishes," Eknath Shinde said in a tweet, sharing two videos of his meeting with Sharad Pawar at his residence.

Earlier, the meeting had raised speculations especially since Uddhav Thackeray, a key figure in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, is out of India on a holiday. Besides, talks of some MLAs in the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction feeling "suffocated due to step-motherly treatment" by the BJP also made this meeting interesting.

It is pertinent to mention that Pawar along with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been invited to the Opposition meeting in Patna under the chairmanship of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on June 12.

"Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has invited all the big leaders who are not with BJP and all the patriotic parties who want change in 2024, to Patna on June 12. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have also been invited. We are thinking of going to Patna," Sanjay Raut said while addressing a press conference earlier on Thursday.

Recently, Raut had also claimed that some lawmakers from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena group were in touch with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. His remarks came after an editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' claimed 22 MLAs and nine MPs from rival Shiv Sena were feeling suffocated due to step-motherly treatment by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and could quit the group led by CM Shinde.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has taken upon himself the task of uniting Opposition forces against the BJP-led government at the Centre ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, will chair a meeting of Opposition parties in Patna on June 12. However, ahead of the opposition leaders' meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bihar in June and is likely to address a public meeting, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Bihar unit president Samrat Choudhary confirmed.