Ram Nath Kovind might break the tradition started by Pratibha Patil and followed by Pranab Mukherjee of meeting Shiv Sena chief, Uddhav Thackeray, at his residence Matoshree, before the presidential poll, during his Mumbai visit.
As per the sources, BJP president, Amit Shah, met Uddhav to discuss the presidential polls and their candidate. The Sena has given its support to Kovind. The Sena backing for Kovind came a day after most other allies and other parties declared their support. While the party is part of the Central and the state governments, relations between the saffron allies are at their lowest point as Sena had suggested RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat as the candidate for the presidential polls.
There was no plan to get Kovind to call on Thackeray for his approval.
Kovind is expected to go to Garware Club from the airport to address NDA MPs and MLAs and then leave Mumbai after lunch. However, it is not clear if Sena legislators and MPs will attend Kovind’s address at Garware Club.