The Aryavarth Express
Agency (Mumbai): On Thursday night, Trinamool Congress (TMC) General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee met with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. The meeting took place at Thackeray’s residence, ‘Matoshree,’ in Bandra and lasted for over an hour. However, the details of their discussion were not disclosed.
Abhishek Banerjee, accompanied by TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, did not address the media gathered outside Thackeray’s residence. This visit follows the INDIA bloc’s strong performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, where they secured over 230 seats.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee also met with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in New Delhi. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut later explained that Banerjee visited Thackeray because Thackeray had been unable to travel to New Delhi for a gathering of top INDIA alliance leaders on Wednesday. Raut did not provide further details about the meeting.
Raut mentioned that leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), another INDIA alliance member, had also spoken with Thackeray. He commented on the BJP’s efforts to form a government despite being in the minority. “Narendra Modi and his party are in a minority but are still trying to form the government, cooking ‘khichdi.’ We doubt they will do it right, which will be a loss to the country and cause political instability,” Raut said.
The BJP-led NDA has secured 293 seats, comfortably surpassing the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha, with the BJP alone winning 240 seats. In contrast, the opposition bloc INDIA won 233 seats, with the Congress securing 99 of these.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), which won nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, and the Trinamool Congress, which secured 29 seats in West Bengal, are both key members of the anti-BJP INDIA alliance.