Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that their relationship is not broken even if they are politically not together. Once allies — the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — severed ties following the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, after former CM Devendra Fadnavis joined hands with a section of NCP MLAs to form the party, leaving the Sena angered, reported Indian media.
He made it clear that he did not go to meet Nawaz. “We may not be politically together but that doesn’t mean our relationship has broken. ‘Main koi Nawaz Sharif se nahi milne gaya tha’ (I did not go to meet Nawaz Sharif). So if I meet him (PM) separately in person, there is nothing wrong with it,” Uddhav Thackeray said.
A delegation of state government led by Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met the Prime Minister to discuss issues like Maratha reservation, Metro car shed and GST compensation.
“Discussed issues related to the Maratha reservation, Metro car shed, GST compensation with the prime minister,” Thackeray said. He said the state government wants to move the car shed to Kanjur. The state and the Centre both claim the land as theirs.
The meeting is taking place over a month after the Supreme Court squashed a 2018 law providing reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and education in the state. The apex court had termed the state quota law as unconstitutional and held that the Maratha community is not socially and educationally backward.
The top court order also said the Maratha quota breached the 50 percent reservation rule. The court maintained that as per the 102nd constitutional amendment, states have no right to enact reservation law.
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After parting ways with the BJP, the Shiv Sena formed the state government in alliance with the NCP and Congress under the Maha Vikas Aghadi.