Manohar Joshi meets Sharad Pawar

Joshi, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, was not immediately available for comments while Pawar said no political meaning be attached to the meeting which was believed to be personal in nature.

At the same time, Pawar said that when he asked Joshi whether he was coming to the Rajya Sabha, the former Maharashtra Chief Minister told him that whatever he has got in his political career was all due to the Shiv Sena, Balasaheb Thackarey and leaders of the party.

"Whatever I should be given is to be decided by the party, to be decided by Uddhavji , Pawar quoted Joshi as saying when asked by PTI about the meeting. Reports from Mumbai had it that a fortnight back, Joshi finally got an audience with his party President Uddhav Thackeray.

Joshi reprotedly became anxious for a while now after the party leadership was beleived to be discreetly promoting young face Rahul Shewale from South Central Mumbai, a Lok Sabha constituency that largely consists of the Marathi-speaking Dadar-Mahim-Sion area along with Dharavi and adjoining areas, which Joshi has represented in the past.

Unhappy with his name not being in the reckoning for this constituency, Joshi had reportedly raised the matter with the party leadership and met Uddhav. "I met Uddhavji and asked whether he has finalised any name for the Lok Sabha elections, and he said that no names have been finalised as yet," Joshi had said.u00a0