New Delhi: In a clear indication of a thaw in relations between the two parties, senior BJP leader L K Advani hosted a lunch for Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackarey on Tuesday.
The two leaders decided that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance will continue and have also come to an agreement that they will not support any NCP candidate anywhere in Maharashtra.
In what is being seen in political circles as let 'bygones be bygones', the meeting of the two leaders came at a time when the talk of mid-term polls was gaining momentum in the backdrop of the Indo-US nuclear issue.
The two parties, which had once shared power in Maharashtra, had been at loggerheads since the Presidential elections in which Sena broke ranks by supporting Pratibha Patil on the plea that she is a Maharashtrian.
There have been reports that the BJP and the Shiv Sena were planning to part ways as the main Opposition did not take kindly to Sena's move and BJP leaders like Gopinath Munde even alleged of a secret deal between Sena and the Congress.
On a political mission, Thackarey would also be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to register the party's protest over the Sachar Committee recommendations for the upliftment of Muslims.
The Shiv Sena, which has always remained unapologetic about its Hindutva stance, regards the Sachar report as a document having the potential of a "second partition of the
country" and is against any reservation or concessions based on religion.
Shiv Sena MPs would also be accompanying Thackarey during the meeting with the Prime Minister.
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