Fadnavis-Uddhav meet a ‘welcome change’: Shinde

Nagpur: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday labelled the meeting between Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray and CM Devendra Fadnavis a “welcome change.”

The Sena (UBT) chief and his MLA son Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday met with Fadnavis and Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar at Vidhan Bhavan premises in Nagpur. Aaditya said they extended good wishes to the two and talked about taking a step towards showing political maturity and working together in the interest of the people. Talking to reporters here during the ongoing Winter Session of the state legislature, Shinde said those who were “over the moon” after the Lok Sabha poll results and “planning to jail us” if they returned to power after Assembly elections were now meeting the chief minister.

“This is a welcome change. The chief minister is the leader of the state and anyone can meet him,” Shinde said. He criticised the Opposition for calling the BJP-led Mahayuti government an “EVM government”.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which grabbed 30 of the 48 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, could win only 46 of the 288 seats in the Assembly polls. The Mahayuti, which got 17 seats in the General Elections, turned the tables by bagging 230 Assembly seats.