NEW DELHI: A day after Devendra Fadnavis, in a light-hearted comment, invited Uddhav Thackeray to “come to the ruling side,” the Shiv Sena UBT chief met the Maharashtra chief minister on Thursday. According to the ANI, the meeting between Fadnavis and Thackeray took place in the office of Legislative Council Chairman Ram Shinde. Their meeting lasted about 20 minutes.On Wednesday, Fadnavis said that Thackeray “can come to the ruling side in a different way.” While addressing the Maharashtra assembly, the CM said that till 2029, there is no scope for the BJP to come to the opposition side.“At least till 2029, there is no scope for us to come there (opposition). Uddhav Ji can think about the scope of coming to this side (ruling party) and that can be thought about in a different way, but there is absolutely no scope left for us to come there (opposition),” Fadnavis said.The Shiv Sena and BJP’s alliance bloomed till 2014. But, their 25-year partnership hit a rough patch during the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections due to a seat-sharing dispute. And finally in 2019, after winning the election, Uddhav ditched BJP and joined hands with Congress. However, Fadnavis had his revenge two and a half years later when Eknath Shinde revolted against Uddhav and split the Shiv Sena. Since then, Fadnavis has been with the Shinde Sena. Eknath Shinde, who served as chief minister for over two years after the 2022 coup, was reluctant to hand over the reins back to Fadnavis in 2024 after their alliance got an overwhelming mandate from the people of the state.Fadnavis’s statement came at a time when Uddhav Thackeray has intensified his attacks on the BJP and the Shinde-led government over the three-language policy, and when speculation about a patch-up between the estranged Thackeray cousins is gaining traction.Speculation has been mounting over the possible collaboration between UBT and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), especially after July 5, when Raj and Uddhav Thackeray shared a stage for the first time in two decades.The rare show of unity came during a joint celebration of the Maharashtra government’s decision to reverse two controversial orders mandating Hindi as a third language from Class 1 in state schools.Back in April, Raj Thackeray had already fuelled talk of a possible thaw, calling their past disagreements “trivial” and stressing that uniting for the cause of the Marathi manoos shouldn’t be difficult. Uddhav Thackeray echoed a similar tone shortly after, saying he was open to reconciliation—so long as it didn’t include those acting against Maharashtra’s interests.