Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray visits Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's home, meets his family, AAP leaders

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya, and party leader Sanjay Raut meet the family and party members of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital on Thursday, August 8, 2024. Pic PTI

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray visited Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal's home on Thursday and met his wife Sunita Kejriwal. The Delhi CM is currently in jail over a case related to the liquor policy in the national capital.

Thackeray was accompanied by his son and Worli legislator Aaditya and party's Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Raut, news agency PTI reported.

Members of Rajya Sabha from Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, were also present during the meeting.

AAP and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are constituents of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.

Thackeray is in the national capital to meet leaders of the INDIA bloc and discuss the way forward in view of the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.

On Wednesday, he along with Aaditya and Raut met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal and other INDIA bloc representatives.

Gandhi confirmed that the meeting with Thackeray was held in the context of the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi will contest the elections together and win," he said on his WhatsApp channel.

Thackeray, said he was willing to be the alliance's CM face again if the I.N.D.I.A partners back him. He was the CM for two-and-a-half years from 2019 to 2022 in the MVA government - comprising the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress - before his government was pulled down by BJP after dissent in the Sena ranks.

"If my colleagues [in MVA] feel that I have done excellent work, then ask them if they want me as the chief minister. People will decide," Thackeray told reporters in Delhi before meeting the Congress leadership.

"I had not dreamt of being a chief minister, nor I wanted to. But I am also not the one who runs away from responsibility. I took up the responsibility and tried to deliver to the best of my abilities," Thackeray said.

He also met NCP-SP supremo Sharad Pawar, who had played a key role in stitching together the MVA coalition after the 2019 Assembly elections.

Thackeray also met Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Derek O'Brien, Singh and Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha member Aditya Yadav among others.

He is likely to meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

The Shiv Sena-UBT chief said that he was in the national capital to meet the INDIA bloc leaders as there was no formal meeting of the opposition alliance leaders after the Lok Sabha elections.

Independent Lok Sabha member from Sangli Vishal Patil, who had defeated Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Chandrahar Patil, also met Thackeray here.

(With PTI inputs)