Devendra Fadnavis meets Raj Thackeray, MNS may get cabinet minister in Maharashtra government

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Raj Thackeray on Friday and according to sources, the BJP is likely to give a ministerial berth to the MNS in the state government.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis (left) with MNS chief Raj Thackeray (centre). (Photo: India Today)

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence ‘Shivtirth’ in Dadar, central Mumbai.

The meeting between the two leaders assumes significance in view of the upcoming elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the pending expansion of the Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

According to sources, BJP is keen to include MNS in the cabinet. Raj Thackeray’s political outfit has only one MLA (Raju Patil from Dombivli constituency) in the assembly.

Read | What is happening to Thackeray that no one is talking about

Earlier this month, Thackeray wrote an open letter to Fadnavis, praising him for setting an example of loyalty and commitment to the party by taking over as the state’s deputy chief minister despite being the frontrunner for the top post. Was. MNS has extended its support to the BJP in Rajya Sabha, MLC and also in the upcoming Presidential elections. Hence, the BJP is likely to reward the MNS with a cabinet berth.

There was talk that Amit Thackeray, son of Raj Thackeray would be proposed as a possible candidate for the ministerial post, but Raj Thackeray put an end to the speculation and termed it as fake news after meeting Devendra Fadnavis today.

Meanwhile, the BJP is now set to seize power in the BMC, which has been ruled by the Shiv Sena for the last thirty years.

Eknath Shinde along with most of the party’s MLAs rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership and took oath as chief minister on June 30, a day after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government collapsed.

— the ending —