Maharashtra crisis: Pawar meets Thackeray as rebels claim majority

No national party in contact with us, says Eknath Shinde

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence amid the political crisis caused by Sena leader Eknath Shinde's rebellion.

State NCP president Jayant Patil and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar accompanied Pawar as he arrived at ‘Matoshree’.

Meanwhile, Shinde, a day after claiming that a “powerful national party” was supporting his group of MLAs in the political drama in Maharashtra, said no national party was in contact with them. Asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was backing his group, Shinde told a TV channel, “When I said a big power