Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray seeks Rs 1,200 crore from Centre

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, at a meeting chaired by Amit Shah to discuss the LWE issues, sought ₹1,200 crore as development funds from the Centre to tackle the menace in the state. Thackeray sought the funds to set up more police posts, schools for tribals and more cell phone towers to increase network connectivity in Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Gondia districts.

After the meeting, Shah had a luncheon meeting with Uddhav Thackeray, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. There were talks that there was a short one-on-one meeting between Uddhav and Shah, which could not be confirmed independently.

Although the focus of the meeting was Naxal issues, Thackeray's meeting with Shah was used by the Shiv Sena to send a message to its allies - Congress and NCP - that the Sena has its options open.


While responding to complaints from party cadres that deputy CM Ajit Pawar was not responding to their issues, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: "The guardian minister (for Pune -- Ajit Pawar) is not from our party, but our party is in power in the state... If no one here (Pune) listens to us then we have to tell him that the CM has gone to Delhi today."

But after realising that he was linking the CM's meeting with Shah as the Sena having options other than the NCP and Congress open, Raut immediately corrected himself and said that Uddhav had gone to Delhi to have "a look at how to come to power in Delhi".