Shiv Sena chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held an hour-long discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in June last year regarding a possible alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed rebel Sena MP Rahul Shewale on Tuesday.
Mr. Shewale further said that while Mr. Thackeray had tried to seek an alliance with the BJP following the revolt of Sena MLAs last month, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut’s continuing truck with the ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ coalition parties – the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (BJP) and the Congress – as well as the past rancour in the Sena’s dealings with the BJP leadership frustrated such efforts.
Mr. Shewale was speaking in Delhi after 12 of the 19 Sena Lok Sabha MPs shifted to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s rebel camp on Tuesday.