Confusion reigned over proposed meeting between Maharashtra Governor and Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Thackeray. File pic

Confusion reigned supreme on Thursday over a proposed meeting between Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. While Raj Bhavan officials said the governor's audience wasn't sought, sources in the government said they were informed that Koshyari was not available because of scheduled events.

Later in the day, the suspense thickened and speculations were rife, after it emerged that Koshyari was scheduled to travel for four days to New Delhi and Uttarakhand, and Thackeray's personal assistant Milind Narvekar reached Raj Bhavan to meet the governor in the evening. The details of the Koshyari-Narvekar meeting were not available. Koshyari's proposed Delhi tour was ultimately seen in the context of political events that have unfolded in the state over the past three days.

However, sources in Raj Bhavan said it would be wrong to link Koshyari's Delhi visit with the high political drama involving union minister Narayan Rane and the MVA government. The governor will be in the capital to attend a planned event - the release of a book on his parliamentary career. Several senior BJP leaders and union ministers are expected to attend the function.

About the meeting that did not take place on Thursday, it was said that Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat would later accompany Thackeray to Raj Bhavan, primarily for discussing the pending appointments of 12 people to the upper house.