Ahead of budget session, Thackeray meets DyCM, Sharad Pawar

Ahead of the budget session of Maharashtra Assembly, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a closed door meeting with NCP president Sharad Pawar and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at his official residence here on Sunday.

The leaders arrived at a consensus on communicating to the Centre about "objectionable parts" of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a senior state leader said. This comes against the backdrop of Thackeray's recent statement that he had no problems with the NPR and nobody should be afraid over the CAA. The Sena's stand appeared at variance with that of the NCP and the Congress, which are its alliance partners in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.

The meeting, held at the CM's official residence 'Varsha' on Sunday, focused on two issues - implementation of the CAA, NPR and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, and the budget session beginning on Monday, the leader said. "There has been a consensus on communicating to the Centre about objectionable parts of the CAA, NPR and NRC.

The leaders also discussed the possible issues which may be raised in the budget session. The three-party government is trying to avoid issues that would hamper the coalition during the budget session," the leader said on condition of anonymity. After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Friday, Thackeray said no one needs to fear about the CAA as it is not meant for throwing anyone out of the country.

He had also said an atmosphere is being created in the country that the NRC is "dangerous" for Muslims, but added that the exercise will not be carried out in Maharashtra. He had later also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi, veteran BJP leader L K Advani and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital.

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