Mumbai, March 29: Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray would be accompanying BJP counterpart Amit Shah for filing the nomination in Gandhinagar parliamentary seat. Shah, the incumbent BJP chief, has been announced by the party as their candidate from the “VIP constituency” in Gujarat, replacing former deputy prime minister LK Advani, who has been representing Gandhinagar since 1991.

The announcement of Uddhav joining Shah for filing nomination tomorrow was confirmed by the Shiv Sena on Friday. Apart from accompanying the BJP president at the State Election Commission office, Uddhav would also be part of the grand rally to be addressed by Shah in Gandhinagar on Saturday.

Uddhav sharing the political stage with Shah assumes significance in the backdrop of evident frictions between the saffron alliance over the last 5 years. The inter-party relations had struck a rock-bottom in December last year, when senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had said the party would be contesting independently.

In February, however, Shah’s relapolitick allowed the BJP to re-ink their pact with Sena in Maharashtra. The two parties would be contesting in 25:23 ratio for the 48 seats in the state, with BJP keeping the higher share.

Despite the pre-poll agreement, Sena has not refrained from praising Congress president Rahul Gandhi and taking veiled jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a sharp attack at the latter, Sanjay Raut had recently told a national English daily that the NDA partners would decide on who would be the next prime minister if the BJP fails to win a single-majority.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2019 04:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).