FADNAVIS-PAWAR ‘GOODWILL MEET’ SPARKS SPECULATION

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the latter’s residence here on Monday morning.

It was a courtesy meeting, BJP leader Fadnavis tweeted after his interaction with Pawar, who has resumed his activities after recovering from a surgery.

Taking to the microblogging site Twitter, Devendra Fadnavis wrote: “Met Former Union Minister & Senior leader Shri Sharad Pawar ji at his residence in Mumbai this morning. This was a courtesy meeting.”

Fadnavis, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, has been critical of the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Maharashtra law granting quota to Marathas in admissions and government jobs.

The meeting between Pawar and Fadnavis has raised speculations inside as well as outside the political circles as Fadnavis shared a picture of the meeting on his social media handles.

Nevertheless, Fadnavis’s close aides called it a ‘goodwill meet’ while also adding that the former CM had gone to inquire about Sharad Pawar’s health.

Minutes before the meeting, Fadnavis had launched a scathing attack on the MVA government for failing to protect the OBC reservation that was earlier struck down by the Supreme Court, and owing to that speculations have surfaced.