Devendra Fadnavis meets Raj Thackeray in view of upcoming BMC elections

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray here on Friday.

The meeting, which is currently underway, is taking place at 'Shivtirtha', Thackeray's residence at Dadar in central Mumbai.

The MNS chief had last month undergone a hip replacement surgery at the Lilavati Hospital. This is Fadnavis's first visit to Thackeray after the surgery.

Earlier this month, Thackeray had written an open letter to Fadnavis, praising him for setting an example of party loyalty and commitment by taking over as deputy chief minister of the state despite being the frontrunner for the top post.

The meeting between the two leaders assumes significance in view of the upcoming elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the pending expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet led by Eknath Shinde.

Shinde, who rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership along with majority of party MLAs, took oath as the chief minister on June 30, a day after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray collapsed. Fadnavis was sworn in as his deputy.

The MNS, which has one MLA, had backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last month's elections to the Rajya Sabha as well as state Legislative Council seats.

The win of the BJP in these crucial polls, which saw its candidates getting more votes than it has, had come just before the rebellion in the Shiv Sena that led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.