Sharad Pawar meets BJP leader Ashish Shelar

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar today called on Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar at the latter's residence in suburban Bandra this evening, days after BJP chief Amit Shah's rally in the Maharashtra capital.

According to sources, the meeting lasted for nearly an hour.

However, what transpired in the meeting could not be known.

When contacted, an NCP leader said no political inference should be drawn from the development.

"Both (Shelar and Pawar) are associated with the Mumbai Cricket Association. They might have met in that context," he said.

Shelar became president of the MCA after Pawar stepped down in view of the Lodha Committee recommendations.

Addressing a rally here on April 6, Shah equated the opposition parties trying to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls to 'snakes', 'mongoose', 'dogs' and 'cats'.

However, Shah later clarified that his intention was not to equate Opposition parties to animals.

Amid the Opposition parties' efforts to pose a joint challenge to the BJP in upcoming polls, a senior NCP leader had said that Pawar would play an important role at the national level.

Addressing a press conference here on April 6, the BJP chief said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was hobnobbing with Pawar of late.

"I was listening to Rahul Baba (Rahul Gandhi). He sits with Pawar sahab nowadays. Pawar sahab has given him some "injection"," Shah had said.

The perceived proximity of the NCP with the BJP has been a topic of speculations in political circles.