Here's why Chhagan Bhujbal's son meeting Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray could be significant

Just days after former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal was granted bail by the Bombay High Court following an over two-year incarceration in a PMLA case, his son Pankaj met with Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's Matoshree residence.

At the 15-minute-long meeting on Wednesday, Uddhav Thackeray is said to have inquired about Chhagan Bhujbal's medical condition. The 70-year-old senior NCP leader is currently undergoing treatment at KEM hospital in Mumbai but is set to address a rally in Pune on June 10.

The meeting assumes significant because of the the past that Bhujbal and the Shiv Sena share, as well as the current political scenario where it appears as though the Shiv Sena may break away from its long-time ally BJP for upcoming elections.

Bhujbal was a long-time Shiv Sena member until splitting from the then Bal Thackeray-led party in 1991. In 2000, Bhujbal, then Home Minister of Maharashtra, famously tried to arrest the late Sena patriarch in connection with a case against Sena mouthpiece Saamna in relation to the 1992-93 Bombay riots. 

Bhujbal and the Thackerays were allegedly not on speaking terms for 27 years since his exit though he did reportedly pay a courtesy call to Bal Thackeray in 2007. After Bhujbal's release, Saamna said that his arrest was 'revenge taken on him by fate' for trying to arrest Bal Thackeray.

Tensions between Bhujbal and the Sena are said to have cooled in recent years with the latter party even coming out to support him following his arrest and blaming the BJP. While the Shiv Sena has played down the possibility that Bhujbal, who is one of the tallest OBC leaders in Maharashtra, would leave Sharad Pawar and the NCP and return to its fold, he could yet play a major role in bridging the gap between the NCP and Shiv Sena, two parties that have battled each other for decades but are seen to be relenting in the current scenario.