NCP chief Sharad Pawar meets Bal Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday held a prolonged meeting in Mumbai in the backdrop of former Sena leader Narayan Rane's recent outbursts against Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

"The two leaders discussed various current important issues," Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut told PTI.

Raut, however, declined to divulge the contents of the meeting.

Pawar, an old friend of the Sena chief, was at 'Matoshree, the Thackeray's residence in suburban Bandra, for over one-and-a-half hour, he said.

But political analysts said that the meeting assumes importance as Rane is a 'common enemy' of both Thackeray as well as Pawar.

Rane had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday after openly criticising Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's style of functioning.