Apparently keen to iron out any differences with the Shiv Sena, the BJP's oldest ally, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari has said his overtures to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are now a closed chapter.
AP
"I don't regret approaching Raj Thackeray, why should I?" Gadkari asked, in an interview to CNN-IBN.
Explaining that the estranged Thackeray cousin had almost agreed to the BJP's proposal that the MNS not field candidates against BJP / Shiv Sena candidates in this Lok Sabha poll in order to ensure that the Hindu / Marathi vote remains unfractured, Gadkari said he was not the only one from the BJP who reached out to Raj. Gopinath Munde, the other senior BJP leader from Maharashtra, also approached the MNS, he said.
He added, however, that as his moves were "misinterpreted", that initiative has now been put in the past and he would be making no further move on the idea, which was to ensure that there would be no split in the anti-NCP, anti-Cong vote. This would have benefited the Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra, he said.
Gadkari also clarified that despite the BJP's overtures to the MNS, the party does not support Raj Thackeray's stand on north Indians and other immigrants in Maharashtra. "I don't think that aligning with Raj Thackeray would have alienated north Indians," he said.
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