MUMBAI : Even though Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has voiced his support for Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the saffron party is trying to play safe to keep ally Shiv Sena in good humour.
Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who had met Thackeray last week in a city hotel, welcomed his support for Modi saying that he was grateful but added that the support should also be extended to other National Democratic Alliance partners for the Lok Sabha elections.
BJP’s Vinod Tawde, leader of opposition in the legislative council, stressed more on his party’s alliance with Shiv Sena and appealed to voters to not get confused by MNS’s stand.
He warned party workers that this could divide the saffron vote and help the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine.
The comments are entirely for the benefit of BJP’s partner Shiv Sena which has expressed its discomfort with the BJP’s growing proximity with the estranged Thackeray cousin in no uncertain terms.
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