Sena to attend NDA protest rally

Top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including L K Advani, spoke to Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray after which the party, upset over arch-rival Maharashta Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's visit to BJP office, said it will attend the NDA rally in Delhi on Wednesday.

The Shiv Sena has accepted the explanation offered by the BJP and agreed to participate in the rally, which it had earlier threatened to boycott. Besides Advani, other senior BJP leaders like Gopinath Munde and Sushma Swaraj also spoke to Uddhav to pacify him.

The Sena was upset with Raj's visit to the BJP headquarters in south Mumbai. The Sena had earlier asked the BJP to clarify its stand and said otherwise it would boycott the NDA rally. "Advaniji and

Sushmaji spoke to me over phone and then we decided to attend the NDA rally scheduled for tomorrow in Delhi," Uddhav told reporters.

Asked if Munde also spoke to him over the controversy, Uddhav said "yes". "He (Munde) played an important role in convincing us," he said. Raj, after inaugurating his party's office in south Mumbai on Monday, went to the BJP office located nearby, taking everyone by surprise.

He was welcomed by BJP state president Sudhir Mungantiwar and other BJP leaders. The informal meeting went on for about 20 minutes which was considered significant in the political circles given that civic polls in the metropolis are due inearly 2012. However, BJP downplayed the meeting, saying nothing much should be read in Raj's visit to the party office.