Nitin Gadkari meets Raj Thackeray in Mumbai, calls it 'family visit'

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In a peculiar instance, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at the latter's residence in Mumbai and called it a family meeting, denying anything political behind this meeting.

Gadkari claimed that he was invited to his residence by Thackeray himself, and it was not a political meeting.  "This was not a political meeting. I have got a good relationship with Raj Thackeray and his family members for 30 years. I had come to see his new house and to know his mother's well being. It was a family visit and not political," Gadkari told reporters.

Notably, the meeting comes a day after Thackeray asked the Maharashtra government to remove the loudspeakers from mosques and warned of "putting loudspeakers in front of the mosques and play Hanuman Chalisa".

Also Read: 'Will play Hanuman Chalisa' warns Raj Thackeray, demands removal of loudspeakers at mosques | VIDEO

Addressing the party workers here, Thackeray had said, "I am not against prayers, you can pray at your home, but the government should take a decision on removing mosque loudspeakers. I am warning now... Remove loudspeakers or else will put loudspeakers in front of the mosque and play Hanuman Chalisa."

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut later termed the comment by Raj Thackeray as 'sponsored by BJP'. He said "It is clear that the (speech of) the loudspeaker blaring at the Shivaji Park yesterday was scripted and sponsored by BJP," Raut told reporters in an apparent reference to the MNS chief.

Raut criticised the MNS president for his remarks that Shiv Sena remembered the assurance of rotational chief ministership only after the 2019 results, which was a mandate for the Sena-BJP alliance and not for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

(With ANI Inputs)

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