File photo of Nitin Gadkari
Nitin Gadkari, under attack from ally Shiv Sena, today said there was no talk of making Raj Thackeray a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or NDA.
"My meeting with Raj Thackeray is being misunderstood," Mr Gadkari today said, hours after he was pilloried as a "businessman adept at making deals" by his party's oldest ally.
Mr Gadkari had met the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader at a Mumbai hotel on Monday and said later that he urged him not to contest the April-May general election to help consolidate anti-Congress votes in Maharashtra, which has the second largest number of Lok Sabha seats at 48.
Following that meeting, MNS sources said Raj Thackeray may not contest the national election as he wanted to focus on the Maharashtra state polls, due in October.
Hours later, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, the estranged cousin of Raj Thackeray, criticized Mr Gadkari in a stinging editorial in his party mouthpiece, Saamna.
Uddhav Thackeray said Mr Gadkari's talks with Raj Thackeray betrayed his lack of confidence in his own prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
"There is a strong wave in favour of Modi not only there in Maharashtra, but in the entire country and the Shiv Sena is strongly behind him. If Gadkari has such reservations, then it may also raise questions in the mind of common people whether the Modi wave is really strong enough," Mr Thackeray said.
"If Modi is great, the people of Maharashtra will wholeheartedly vote for him. Nobody should be concerned about the division of votes."
Raj Thackeray broke away from the Shiv Sena in 2005 to set up his own party, which has built an almost identical support base playing to regional chauvinism. He made a strong debut in the 2009 Maharashtra state election, winning 13 of 288 seats but damaging the BJP and Sena in some 55 seats.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Raj Thackeray walked away with 15 per cent of the opposition votes, which was said to be Mr Gadkari's chief concern when he met the leader.