Modi reaches out to Uddhav

On his maiden visit to Mumbai after his elevation as BJP's election campaign committee chief, Narendra Modi today reached out to Shiv Sena, which had slammed him for his "parochial" rescue efforts for Gujaratis in flood-hit Uttarakhand, meeting its leader Uddhav Thackeray.

The Gujarat chief minister, who is not on best of terms with Uddhav and is considered closer to his estranged cousin MNS chief Raj Thackeray, called on the Sena president at his residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra.

A battery of senior state BJP leaders including its state president Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Vinod Tawde and Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar were also present.

Though what transpired during the 20-minute meeting was not known, a senior BJP leader present there said it was a courtesy call by Modi.

Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' had on Tuesday assailed Modi over his rescue efforts for Gujaratis in Uttarakhand, terming it as "parochial", and said Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was "large-hearted" in this mammoth task.

Reacting to claims that Modi and his team had rescued 15,000 marooned Gujaratis on a single day, Uddhav said in an editorial that the Gujarat chief minister should have desisted from such action at a time when he was aspiring to become his party's prime ministerial candidate.

"When Modi is being cheered as the likely prime ministerial candidate, it is detrimental to take a stance that he only thinks for the people of Gujarat. In times of disaster, one has to have a national thinking and not parochial or regional views," Uddhav had said.

Uddhav had, however, done a U-turn later, saying he did not mean to criticise Modi and that the editorial targeted the Gujarat leader's propaganda machinery.

"The criticism was not against Modi but his propaganda folks. The opposition is not for Modi but the wrong way in which his work was publicised," he said, adding, "Modi has done good work."

Modi's courtesy call to Uddhav is being seen as an attempt to keep Sena, its oldest ally with whom it had run a coalition government in Maharashtra between 1995 and 1999, in good humour and project a picture that the NDA, reduced to a three-member alliance with the exit of JD(U), was in no danger of disintegrating further. Shiromani Akali Dal is another partner in the opposition alliance.