Within days after ailing senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal was granted bail in an alleged money laundering case, his son Pankaj Bhujbal on Wednesday called on Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, sparking speculation in the State political circles.
Pankaj Bhujbal’s meeting with Thackeray held at the latter’s Bandra residence “Matoshri”, lasted for 15 minutes. Pankaj’s close associates described the meeting as a “courtesy call”. Thackeray’s personal aide Milind Narvekar was present on the occasion.
At the meeting, Thackeray asked Pankaj to tell his father to take care of his health.
Wednesday’s development comes on the heels of the Sena’s official mouth-piece “Saamana” defending the senior NCP leader, through an editorial.
Pankaj’s meeting with Thackeray seen in the context of the fact that Sr Bhujbal was a senior Shiv Sena leader before he staged a major rebellion within the Sena, walked out of the party along with 18 MlAs and joined the then Sharad Pawar-led Maharashtra Congress in 1991.
Bhujbal — who had built bridges with the Sena chief in October 2008 by withdrawing a defamation case that he had filed in 1997 against the latter — had sparked intense speculation within the State political circles ahead of the 2009 lok Sabha polls by meeting up with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Subsequently on November 1, 2012, Bhujbal had called on ailing Bal Thackeray and made enquires about the latter’s health.
Meanwhile, after two years of incarceration in the alleged money laundering case, Sr Bhujbal will return to active politics when he addresses a public rally organised in Pune by the NCP on its foundation day on June 10. The function marks the concluding ceremony of the ongoing “halla bol” yatra in the run-up to next year’s lok Sabha polls.
