MUMBAI: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, in a play of words, commented on Wednesday that BJP-Shiv Sena relations that media believed were on a ‘ventilator’ are actually normalising, albeit at the pace of a tortoise (Kaasav).
‘Kaasav’ (Tortoise) and ‘Ventilator’ are the two Marathi movies that bagged almost half a dozen awards at the recent National Film Awards. Kaasav, directed by Sunil Sukthankar and Sumitra Bhave bagged the title of Best Feature Film.
Uddhav Thackeray felicitated artists from these films at his residence, Matoshree, on Wednesday, where media persons asked him to comment on the BJP-Shiv Sena relationship which is believed to be on the ‘Ventilator’.
Thackeray replied that relations between the two parties are improving at a tortoise’s pace.
Uddhav Thackeray had recently participated in a meeting of NDA members with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. This was the first such visit by the Shiv Sena president in the past two years.
Relations between the two parties that had gone to the brink during Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections earlier this year are believed to be getting back to normal after the recent NDA meeting.
A couple of weeks ago, Shiv Sena had proclaimed in its typical style that whoever wants to solicit for its votes in presidential elections will have to do so by visiting Matoshree.
Uddhav Thackeray eventually visited Delhi for the NDA meeting. There he even had to receive admonition by LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan for Shiv Sena’s criticism of the government.
However, Thackeray also got an opportunity to interact freely with Prime Minister Modi and BJP President Shah, which appears to have transformed things, a Shiv Sena insider said.