After many months of acrimony, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis would share the stage on Tuesday as they pay homage to Bal Thackeray on his death anniversary. The two allies may talk about Cabinet expansion and also announce where the memorial for Thackeray will be built.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, paid homage to the Bal Thackeray on his death anniversary. "Balasaheb Thackeray was committed to the well-being of people. He was widely admired by Karyakartas. Tributes to him on his Punya Tithi," he tweeted.
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) relationship with ally Shiv Sena has been bitter with the Sena chief threatening to withdraw its support to National Democratic Alliance (NDA) several times in the recent past. Thackeray had warned that if the "BJP continues its arrogance" Sena will not hesitate to pull out of the alliance.
Making the differences even more evident, the two parties had contested the polls to Kalyan Dombivili Municipal Corporation separately. The Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party by winning 52 seats in the keenly-fought (KDMC) elections, but fell short of majority. It reached out to its estranged ally BJP asserting that 'let bygones be bygones.'
The BJP remained at the second spot in the KDMC elections by winning 42 seats, sharply improving its earlier tally of nine, in the 122-member body.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis had downplayed the "bickering" with Sena saying it is bound to happen in a "coalition". "We are two separate parties and there's a difference between their thinking and working style. We fought against each other in last year's Assembly polls but the mandate we got was against Congress-NCP," Fadnavis said but not before adding, "had we got 20-22 seats more, we would have been the only party in power."
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