MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s sudden meeting with his former mentor Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray after a gap of 16 years on Saturday night, has sparked intense political speculation and ruffled feathers in the Congress party-NCP alliance camp.
Bhujbal, along with his family members, met Thackeray at his residence in Bandra and gifted him a box of dates and a wristwatch. The meeting was held in the background of Bhujbal’s recent angry outbursts against the NCP leadership and reservations for the Maratha community. The details of the meeting, which continued for hours, are not known.
According to political analysts, Bhujbal who was feeling suffocated and gagged in NCP, which is dominated by the powerful Maratha community leaders, was aggrieved that he was being sidelined and ignored because he belonged to Mali community, which falls in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.
On the other hand, it appears to be a game plan of the Shiv Sena to embrace Bhujbal, and forget and forgive his past mistakes of leaving the Sena, which will enable it to grab power in the state with the help of Bhujbal, said a Sena leader.
Bhujbal set foot at the Thackeray residence accompanied by his son Pankaj, nephew Sameer and other members of the family. He was received by Sena working president Uddhav Thackeray, who is Sena chief’s son, and his wife Rashmi Thackeray, and escorted to the room of Bal Thackeray, who embraced Bhujbal with a tight hug. Even though Bhujbal and Thackeray had spoken on phone several times in the past, this was the first time that Bhujbal has met Thackeray after leaving the Sena in a huff 16 years ago.
According to Sena sources, Thackeray and Bhujbal reminisced about their days together. Discussions also centered on the present position of Bhujbal in the NCP and the government. The NCP had isolated Bhujbal after his alleged involvement in the multicrore Telgi stamp paper scam, which rocked the country.
