West Bengal CM meets Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, pledges support to Uddhav for Maharashtra elections

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 12 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence.
West Bengal CM Banerjee also met with family members of Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray today.
After meeting with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, Banerjee said that she will campaign for him during the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
"I will definitely come to Maharashtra to campaign for Uddhav ji during elections," the West Bengal CM said.
On the same day, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee also met with NCP-SCP leader Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.
While speaking about the West Bengal Chief Minister meeting with NCP-SCP leader Sharad Pawar, party leader Rohit Pawar said that the discussion was totally based on family and friends, nothing else he further added that the meeting was more of a family visit.
"The discussion was totally based on family and friends, nothing else. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has known Sharad Pawar for a long time. They have very good family relations. This was more of a family visit," Rohit Pawar said.
Notably, CM Banerjee's meeting comes after Mahayuti alliance swept the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, winning nine out of 11 seats.
Mahayuti alliance, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, registered a win after pulling out a poor performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra Legislative polls are largely seen as a semi-final ahead of the state assembly elections. While the BJP fielded five candidates, the NCP and the Shiv Sena fielded two each. All nine of their candidates won the poll.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP fielded three candidates.
According to the 2019 Assembly poll data, the BJP has 105 MLAs in a House of 288 seats. The combined Shiv Sena had 56 MLAs and the combined NCP had 54 MLAs. Following the split in the NCP and the Sena, the Shinde Sena has 37 MLAs while the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has 39 MLAs. (ANI)