Raj Thackeray, Maharashtra BJP chief meet to 'exchange pleasantries'

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and BJP state president Chandrakant Patil met in Nashik on Sunday.

Patil later told reporters that he and Thackeray only exchanged pleasantries and "nothing more", as they share warm and friendly relations since their student days.

Both the leaders are in Nashik to take stock of the preparedness of their respective parties for civic elections.

Nashik is among 10 civic bodies where polls are due next year.

The two leaders met when Thackeray's convoy entered a guest house while Patil was leaving the premises.

They spoke to each other for a few minutes, moving away from their aides and security staff.

Later, Patil said, "We both were in the students' wings of our respective parties and share a friendly relation since the last 40 years," he said.

Asked if the friendship will bear fruit in the forthcoming civic polls, Patil said, "Friendship and politics are two different things. Even though I am the state BJP president, our leader Devendra Fadnavis will take the final decision."

To a question on what they had spoken about, Patil said, "We exchanged pleasantries...nothing more than that."

Thackeray's MNS ruled the Nashik civic body a few years ago. In the last civic polls in Nashik, the BJP defeated the MNS.