Union Home Minister Amit Shah did not deny his reported secret meeting with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference from New Delhi, Shah asserted that the BJP will emerge victorious in at least 26 out of the 30 seats that went to polls on the first phase of Bengal assembly elections.

Accordingly, a journalist probed him about his reported confidential meeting with Pawar and Patel that has sent the rumour mill abuzz since Sunday morning. Rather cryptically, Shah replied, “Everything can't be made public.”

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has faced a major setback ever since the terror scare outside leading industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence broke out in late February.

Later on, former Mumbai Police commissioner accused Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of tasking tainted cop Sachin Waze to collect extortions worth Rs 100 crore from Mumbai on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, Shivsena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ has also upped its attacks on NCP by criticising the government’s handling of the allegations against Deshmukh.

In this context, Shah’s possible meeting with Pawar could potentially have some major political consequences in the state of Maharashtra. With 105 seats, the BJP is the single-largest party in the assembly but couldn’t storm to power as the trio of Shivsena, NCP and Congress allied together post the poll results.