Will Uddhav Thackeray, Eknath Shinde Reunite? Pratap Sarnaik Drops Major Hint: 'Anything Can Happen'

Published 9 July 2026 · politics

Will Uddhav Thackeray, Eknath Shinde Reunite? Pratap Sarnaik Drops Major Hint: 'Anything Can Happen' Published By, Last Updated: July 09, 2026, 18:32 IST The ongoing

Will Uddhav Thackeray, Eknath Shinde Reunite? Pratap Sarnaik Drops Major Hint: 'Anything Can Happen' Published By, Last Updated: July 09, 2026, 18:32 IST The ongoing bad blood stems from the 2022 revolt, when Eknath Shinde walked out on Uddhav Thackeray with a substantial majority of the party’s elected MLAs. Rapid Read Sarnaik's remarks arrived amid a widening fracture within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc, sparked by veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s visit to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Vidhan Bhavan office on Wednesday. In a development that has reignited intense speculation over the shifting sands of Maharashtra politics, state Cabinet Minister and Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik on Thursday hinted at a potential reconciliation between the warring Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions. When explicitly asked by reporters if the two divided Shiv Sena camps could join forces down the line, Sarnaik delivered a cryptic response: “Anything can happen in the future." Sarnaik’s remarks arrived amid a widening fracture within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc, sparked by veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s visit to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Vidhan Bhavan office on Wednesday. Sarnaik Defends Cross-Party Courtesy, Cites Maharashtra’s Traditions Downplaying the political hostility that has consumed the state since the 2022 Sena split, Sarnaik emphasized that personal relationships frequently transcend ideological divides in regional governance.

“Nobody is anyone’s friend or enemy in politics," Sarnaik observed, taking a direct swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut’s public anger over the meeting. “There is nothing wrong for him [Sharad Pawar] to sit in Eknath Shinde’s office. Why is Sanjay Raut having trouble?" Sarnaik went on to evoke the state’s historical political decorum to suggest that the ongoing animosity is not permanent. “In the future, if Aaditya Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray, and Eknath Shinde are seen in a car… don’t hate someone so much. All these things happen in politics. When there is a wedding or some family function, we go together. This is Maharashtra’s tradition." Pawar-Shinde Meeting Sparks Sharp MVA War of Words The underlying trigger for the latest controversy was a “courtesy visit" paid by Nationalist Congress Party (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar to CM Shinde’s chamber. Pawar was initially at the state legislature premises on Wednesday to participate in a high-powered committee meeting addressing the long-pending Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. Following the formal session, Pawar met with MLAs from his own party right inside Shinde’s Vidhan Bhavan office. The optics of the meeting drew immediate fire from the Uddhav Thackeray camp, exposing deep structural vulnerabilities within the opposition alliance Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut slammed the move, calling Eknath Shinde a “traitor".