Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, while the Maharashtra legislature’s budget session was underway.
According to sources, Shinde visited Delhi and held an in-depth discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly one and a half hours. The meeting took place between 11:00 am and 12:20 pm on Monday, after which Shinde also met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at 12:30 pm, sources said.
“I come to Delhi every session to meet MPs. Yesterday, I met our MPs. Today, I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This was a goodwill meeting. I focus on what I have to do rather than on who is criticising or saying what. The opposition is always criticising, but I respond with action. I told Narendra Modi that all parties in the country should remain united during the Iran-US conflict. I also conveyed that Shiv Sena stands with him,” Eknath Shinde told media persons later.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is on a two-day special visit to Delhi. He left Mumbai while the budget session of the Maharashtra State Legislature was underway and travelled to Delhi. He also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held detailed discussions on pending development works in the state.
Sources said that Shinde also reviewed details of the legal battle in the Supreme Court over the ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol involving the undivided Shiv Sena. He has been discussing various aspects of the case with legal experts in Delhi. Shinde is in the process of fine-tuning his party’s strategy to present a strong case before the Supreme Court when the matter comes up for hearing.
Shinde also submitted a special internal report prepared by his party to Amit Shah. According to sources, he conveyed that the expected cooperation from the BJP during the elections was not received. As a result, several candidates of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena suffered defeats, as per the report submitted to Amit Shah.
Significantly, Shinde is also expected to personally hand over the report to the central leadership of the BJP.
Reacting to Shinde’s meeting with Amit Shah in Delhi, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Rajya Sabha MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut told media persons, “Eknath Shinde’s party high command is not in Mumbai, but in Delhi. While he may use the name Shiv Sena, his party was actually founded by Amit Shah. Amit Shah is his boss and the real founder of his party. So, what is surprising about Shinde going to meet him?”
“Shinde went to Delhi to meet Amit Shah to seek directions on what to do in Maharashtra. This is an internal matter of their party. They went to meet their real party chief,” Sanjay Raut added.