Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee meet, plan to 'come together in the future'

The enemy of my enemy is my friend - Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads Trinamool Congress, have started working on this principle in a bid to put up a strong counter-force against the BJP.

Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray

The two leaders met at a city five-star hotel yesterday to chart out a plan to get like-minded parties onboard before the 2019 general elections. The fact that Uddhav went all the way to a South Mumbai hotel, instead of hosting Mamata at his home in Kalanagar, indicated that he wanted to keep the Modi detractor in good humour and get along with her in the times to come. Son Aaditya accompanied him for the meeting. And bashing the BJP came naturally to both leaders.

Uddhav told media persons that they discussed demonetisation, GST and many other topics. "We discussed everything that has gone wrong for the BJP government and, subsequently, subjected the people of this country to suffer mentally and financially," he said.

Was it the beginning of a long association that he proposes to have with Mamata? "Yes," he said, adding, "We discussed how we should come together in the future. The party that people voted to power in anticipation of achche din is now a major cause for the suffering."

Sources said what brought the Sena and TMC together was their respective regional identity that the BJP is out to erase. In Maharashtra, Uddhav is opposing the BJP despite being in power, while in West Bengal, the Amit Shah-led party is making all efforts to marginalise Mamata's influence.

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