Sharad Pawar meets Uddhav Thackeray, hands over cheque for CM's relief fund

Mumbai, Sep 09: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's official residence Varsha' here. During the meeting that lasted for about an hour, Pawar handed over a cheque of Rs 2.36 lakh for the Chief Minister's relief fund on behalf of the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, a renowned educational institute.

The meeting sparked off speculation about the issues the two leaders, who are part of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, might have discussed. Maharashtra chief secretary Sitaram Kunte was also present during the meeting.

Pawar did not speak to the media while leaving. "As chairman of Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, I handed over a cheque worth Rs 2.36 lakh to CM Uddhav Thackeray for the CM relief fund. The fund is raised as one day salary by all the teachers and non-teaching staff of the Sanstha," the NCP chief tweeted later.

"I hope the fund would be helpful for the state's ongoing measures to bring down COVID-19 cases," he said.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiating a probe against NCP leader and former home minister Anil Deshmukh in an alleged money laundering case, and the central agency's summons to Shiv Sena leader and minister Anil Parab in the same case.

They could have also discussed the issue of appointment of 12 members to the Legislative Council from the governor's quota, an NCP source said. Governor B S Koshyari and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government are at loggerheads over the pending appointments.