Uddhav backs bloc’s policy of wait & watch

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, June 8

Even as speculations are rife over Uddhav Thackeray’s absence from the INDIA bloc’s meeting on June 5 and his subsequent silence, sources said the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader backs the INDIA bloc’s strategy of wait and watch before taking any decision.

After Uddhav skipped the INDIA bloc meeting, some quarters even suggested that it was due to his not being averse to the idea of returning to the NDA fold. However, the sources said he would not risk such a misadventure, considering the handsome mandate received by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha poll, which was mainly owing to the sympathy factor towards him following the split in the party engineered by the BJP.

Moreover, around half a dozen MLAs of the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena are in touch with Uddhav, the sources added.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha poll, the MVA bagged 30 of the 48 seats in the state with the Congress emerging as the single largest party with 13 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) nine and NCP (SP) eight.