After Amit Shah declined to confirm or deny a purported secret meeting with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in the midst of a crisis in the Maharashtra coalition government, NCP's Praful Patel said the party is completely opposed to the BJP's ideology. "The Maha Vikas Aghadi government is absolutely safe under Uddhav Thackeray," Mr Patel said, adding, "At the national level, we are opposed to the NDA and BJP. Talks of a backdoor alliance makes no sense."