Mumbai, June 5: Hoping to repair the severely strained relations between the two alliance partners, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah will call on Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, party sources said on Tuesday.

This will be the second summit between Shah and Thackeray. The first took place exactly a year ago when the BJP chief called on the Sena supremo in June 2017 to seek his support in the Presidential election.

The meeting is officially described as part of an outreach programme by the BJP to mollify its allies and build bridges before the 2019 parliamentary battle.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been bitterly targeted by Thackeray and his party in recent times.

The meeting will come a couple of days after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis exhorted his party workers to work hard for an alliance with the Sena.

The relations between the two partners plummeted to a new low when Shiv Sena 'hijacked' Shriniwas Vanga - the son of late BJP MP Chintaman Vanga from Palghar - and gave him the party ticket for the May 28 Palghar Lok Sabha bypolls.

A raging BJP inducted former Congressman Rajendra Gavit, who defeated Vanga.

In a guarded initial reaction, Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut pointed out how the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners were not satisfied with the BJP and leaving it one by one.

But he refused to speculate whether the Sena would reconsider its oft-repeated stance of going solo in all future elections and pointed out that the party did extremely well and showed its strength in Palghar which it contested for the first time ever.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Shivpuri (PTI): The 60-year-old mother of a rape accused was killed allegedly by the victim's brother in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, a police official said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday, Rannod police station house officer (SHO) Arvind Chauhan said.

"An anganwadi worker returning from a hospital was offered a lift by one Inder Gurjar, who took her to a secluded spot and raped her. She called up her brothers to narrate the ordeal. One brother of the victim along with two associates went to Gurjar's house and assaulted him. When Gurjar's mother Sirkunwarbai (60) intervened, she was attacked with a sharp weapon. She died on the spot," he said.

Based on a complaint filed by the deceased woman's daughter-in-law, three persons were booked for murder. One of them was held on Saturday, the official added.

A separate case has also been registered against Gurjar for rape, he said.

Police personnel have been deployed in the area in view of tension following the incident, the official added.