Amit Shah meets Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray regarding Presidential polls
The Shiv Sena leadership is to meet sometime later today to weigh its options but as its half-a-century's history has revealed, it is the chief, earlier the late Bal Thackeray, and now Uddhav Thackeray, who takes the call.
Uddhav Thackeray had said that "there are attempts being made to play politics over a Dalit presidential candidate".
"My father used to say this country is a region of Hindus therefore we have decided on the name of Mohan Bhagwat and he is our first priority but if there would be issues on his appointment then I have suggested Swaminathan's name as well", said Thackery.
Responding to a poser on Sharad Pawar's candidature for the top post, Thackeray took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president is his guru, adding it's hard to guess what is in ones heart.
When we asked the bookie, what is the next step you are planning, he said, "Like me, many people from Maharashtra have suffered because of such unexpected decision".
The Shiv Sena had backed Congress's presidential nominees-Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee- against official NDA candidates in the last two elections.
Interestingly, while SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has expressed his support for the NDA candidate, his party is yet to take an official stand.
On Monday, Uddhav, while speaking at the party's foundation day convention had slammed Kovind's nomination as that meant to appease Dalit voters.
The names doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates include former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, both of the Congress and both Dalits.
The Shiv Sena president revealed that Amit Shah had sought the party's support for their candidate, though his name was not declared then.
Shah had met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree on Sunday, apparently assured him that the BJP parliamentary board would consult all NDA constituents before finalising its nominee.
"It is not necessary that Sena will always oppose the BJP", he said. "Pawar is Modi's guru, can't say what's in one's heart", Thackeray had said. The Sena's support to the NDA comes amid increasingly strained relations between the Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within the Maharashtra government.
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