‘No one should be scared of CAA; NPR won’t throw anyone out’: Uddhav Thackeray after meeting with PM Modi

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was the first official meeting between Modi and Uddhav Thackeray since the latter walked out of the NDA alliance and took over as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Uddhav was accompanied by his son Aaditya Thackeray.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting Uddhav said that the two leaders had a “good discussion” over various issues concerning Maharashtra.

He said that they had discussed the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens.

“No one has to fear about CAA,” he said, adding that the NPR was “not going to throw anyone out of the country”.

Uddhav also said that Prime Minister Modi had promised to extend all cooperation to Maharashtra government.

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said that party chief Thackeray will meet Prime Minister, Gandhi and senior BJP leader LK Advani today in the national capital.

“Uddhav ji and Prime Minister Modi have cordial relations,” Raut told ANI here and added that the relation of elder brother and younger brother continues between them.

“Uddhav Thackeray will also meet Sonia Gandhi since Congress is a prominent member of the coalition government. He will meet LK Advani also,” Raut added.

The meeting comes amid rumours of a growing rift between the Shiv Sena and its ideologically opposite alliance partners — Congress and the NCP. The Chief Minister on Friday however stated that there was “no friction among allies”.

We are going to run the Maharashtra government for five years,” he said.

Earlier this week, Uddhav had taken to Twitter to state that “CAA and NRC are different and NPR is different”.

“No one has to worry if CAA gets implemented. NRC is not there and will not be implemented in the state,” Thackeray had tweeted, adding that NPR will happen in the state as there is nothing controversial about it, Thackeray said.

At that time, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said that while the Shiv Sena chief was entitled to his view, the alliance partners may discuss the issue.

“The three parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi will sit and discuss it. Soon we will be having a detailed discussion on it and we will try to convince Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray about it,” Pawar had said.