Mumbai, Jul 1 (TOI): Senior BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar's visit to Matoshree on Thursday is seen as BJP's move to pacify the Shiv Sena in the wake of a series of skirmishes between the two allies.

Mungantiwar called on Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's behest, it is learnt. Mungantiwar, who holds the finance and forest portfolios in the state cabinet, invited Thackeray for the tree-planting drive at the Mahim nature's park on Friday. Thackeray accepted the minister's invite. Mungantiwar has plans to plant two crore trees in the state.

While Thackeray praised Mungantiwar's work towards maintaining the state's ecological balance, the Sena president offered scant hope to the BJP for the improvement of the political climate in the ruling alliance. Talking to mediapersons after holding talks with Mungantiwar for a little over an hour, Thackeray said his party would continue to criticise the BJP government in the larger interest of Maharashtra.

Asked if the differences in the ruling BJP-Sena alliance would be sorted out amicably after Mungantiwar's courtesy visit, Thackeray said it largely depended on the two parties. "The Sena will continue to take the government to task if we found that it was going wrong (in policy implementation)," he added.

Referring to the fibre tiger which Mungantiwar presented to Thackeray as a goodwill gesture, the latter said, "Tigers are crucial for maintaining ecological balance."

Mungantiwar promptly agreed and added that tigers in politics — the big cat is the Sena mascot — was a different matter.