Uddhav skips PM's award event to meet elderly Shivsainik

The ongoing tussle between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party prompted Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to skip the event in Mumbai where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar award.

Thackeray and his family members met 80-year-old Chandrabhaga Shinde, who became the face of protests by Shiv Sena workers against Independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana a day earlier, at her residence in Parel in the evening.

Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad tweeted the invitation card of the Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar award ceremony which didn't mention the name of Uddhav Thackeray.

'The Mangeshkar family avoided mentioning the name of the Chief Minister on the invitation card of the Lata Mangeshkar Award Ceremony. Their role is incomprehensible. This act of the Mangeshkars is an insult to 12 crore Marathi people,' Awhad tweeted.

The octogenarian Shinde, a diehard Shivsainik, had braved prickly heat and humidity as she sat outside 'Matoshree', the private residence of the Thackerays in suburban Bandra on Saturday.

She and hundreds of Shiv Sainiks had vociferously protested against the plan by MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree.

Shinde not only shouted slogans at the top of her voice during the protest but also showed a 'don't mess with me' action made famous as that of defiance in the recent multi-lingual film blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise.

Thackeray, his wife Rashmi and sons Aaditya and Tejas arrived at Shinde's one-room tenement in Crescent Bay building in Parel, a Sena stronghold, in the evening and spoke to her.

Sena functionaries said minister Aaaditya Thackeray had spoken to Shinde over the phone after her images and videos went viral on social media during the protests on Friday and Saturday, while the CM had invited her inside 'Matoshree'.

During his visit on Sunday, the CM once again invited Shinde to his home in Bandra or the official residence 'Varsha' in Mumbai's Malabar Hill area, they said.

At a function held at Shanmukhanand Hall in Mumbai on Sunday evening, PM Modi was honoured with the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar award instituted after the late singing legend.

Shiv Sena leader and state Industries Minister Subhash Desai attended the function.