Hours before he met Bal Thackeray with a request to withdraw his diktat against Australian cricketers playing in IPL, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had planned to advise the Shiv Sena chief to counsel the younger generation on national integration.
"He has grown old now. He should sit back and advise the new generation on national integration. I will tell him this when I meet him," Pawar had said in his valedictory address at state-level NCP convention in Aurangabad yesterday.
He slammed Thackeray for his opposition to Australian and Pakistani players, saying "he says he will not allow Pakistani players to play. will India not play with Pakistan in the Olymics?"
A few hours later, accompanied by BCCI president Shashank Manohar, the NCP leader was at `Matoshree', the Thackeray residence in suburban Bandra, for Sena's help in allowing the Austrialians to play in the IPL.
Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana said that the party patriarch will take a call on the request in 2-3 days but not before not before the BCCI makes a presentation on the Australians who would participate in IPL.
In his speech, Pawar had recalled his "old friendship" with Thackeray. "We often criticise each other but we also meet."
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