Uddhav Thackeray's "Secret Meeting" Quip On Lift Encounter With D Fadnavis

In an accidental meeting on the first day of Maharashtra Assembly's monsoon session, arch-rivals Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis found themselves waiting for the lift together. Awkwardness was in the air, and a video that has now gone viral shows the two former Chief Ministers exchanging some words; the mood is cold at best. While what they spoke about is not known, the body language suggests that it was little more than small talk.

Mr Thackeray was asked about the conversation when he interacted with the media later. "From here on, we will do all our secret meetings in the lift," he joked.

"When Devendraji and I were in the lift, people must have thought of the song, 'na na karte pyar tumhi se kar baithe' (a classic from the 1965 film Jab Jab Phool Khile that roughly translates to 'I fell in love with you despite denials).

"There is nothing like that. It was an unexpected meeting," the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief added.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde gave the incident a different spin. "Two years ago, they (Uddhav Thackeray and his team) took a different lift and went to the Congress. We took one that carried us to the people," he said.

Another light-hearted interaction, pictures of which have emerged, was between BJP minister Chandrakant Patil and Mr Thackeray. When the BJP leader gave a bar of chocolate to Mr Thackeray, he replied, "Tomorrow you will give chocolate to the people of Maharashtra." The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader was clearly referring to the state budget that is likely to offer sops to woo voters ahead of the election.

This is the last Assembly session before the Maharashtra election due later this year. These polls are likely to be a tight contest after the MVA trumped the ruling alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) in this general election. Out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, the MVA won 30 and the NDA bloc 17.

The upcoming election is significant against the backdrop of the splits in two key political forces in the state over the past two years. In the last state election in 2019, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena fought in alliance and secured a majority. But the allies fell out over rotational chiefministership and Mr Thackeray tied up with the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP to form the government.

In 2022, however, the Uddhav Thackeray government was toppled after his trusted lieutenant Eknath Shinde led a mutiny that split the Shiv Sena. Mr Shinde tied up with the BJP to form the next government. Subsequently, NCP leader Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar, leading to a split in NCP. Ajit Pawar, too, joined the state government.