Mumbai: Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday met Shiv Sena executive president Udhdav Thackeray to iron out differences in the saffron alliance ahead of the
crucial local bodies elections, including the Mumbai municipal
corporation early next year.
Apart from Uddhav, senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi was
also present at the meeting, that took place at Joshi`s
central Mumbai office.
Naidu told reporters that a co-ordination committee
comprising four leaders each from Shiv Sena and BJP will be
set up soon to ensure smooth co-ordination between the two
allies.
"Sub-committees will be set up till the taluka level
which will function under the state level committee. The local
committees will include local leaders from both sides to iron
out differences between the two," he said.
Naidu ruled out inclusion of MNS into the saffron fold
saying that Shiv Sena alone would be BJP`s ally in the state.
The meeting comes in the wake of tension in the saffron
camp over growing proximity of BJP leaders with MNS and
Gopinath Munde`s demand for inclusion of MNS in the alliance,
besides defeat of BJP leader Eknath Khadse`s son in the
legislative council polls from the Jalgaon local bodies
constituency. Khadse had blamed Sena leader Suresh Jain for
the defeat.
BJP was represented by Khadse, Munde, Sudhir Mungantiwar,
Vinod Tawde and Jalgaon MLA Girish Mahajan, while Sena was
represented by senior leaders Subhash Desai and Suresh Jain
apart from Joshi and Uddhav.
PTI
