Uddhav Thackeray calls Union Minister Raosaheb Dadarao Danve ‘future friend’, creates buzz

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday set off buzz over a potential reunion with an estranged ally BJP when he addressed a union minister from Maharashtra as an old and “perhaps a future friend”.

Thackeray and Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Dadarao Danve, BJP MP from Jalna (Maharashtra), were together on stage at an event in Aurangabad, where Thackeray made the comment that invited political reactions from the BJP and former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Looking at Danve before starting his speech, Thackeray said, “Here is my old friend, and if we come together again, then also my future friend.”

State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil maintained caution while reacting to CM’s comments and said the ideologies of the BJP and Shiv Sena were the same.

Fadnavis, however, downplayed any reunion talk with the Shiv Sena and said the BJP was performing the role of an effective opposition in Maharashtra.