A luncheon meeting between Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar and election strategist Prashant Kishor caused a flutter in the political corridors on Friday. Kishor, fresh from grand success in the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, is understood to have shared his experiences and perceptions with the veteran leader, who is being projected as an aggregator of parties that want to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party’s juggernaut at the Centre and in the states.

The meeting held significance in view of a series of political developments. On Thursday, Pawar said at the party’s foundation day that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would continue to function smoothly in Maharashtra, because the Shiv Sena was a trusted partner; after a closed-door meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gave rise to speculations of political instability in the state. He added that the MVA would work together in the next Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. There have been talks of having the ‘Maharashtra Model’ in states where the multi-party set-up exists, and most of them are opposed to the BJP. More importantly, it is pertinent for leaders like Pawar to bring such forces together to put up a strong fight against the BJP. Anyways, Pawar is being projected as the next head of the UPA or UPA-like mega alliance, with or without the Indian National Congress.