Mumbai: Two days after the fiasco over an advertisement led to bad blood between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, the duo came together for a public function where they tried their best to dispel rumours of a rift.

“Our friendship has not been just for the last few days. We have been close friends for the last 25 years. Our bonding is like Fevicol. It will not break how much you ever try. Some people call us ‘Jai Veeru‘ (characters from Hindi movie ‘Sholay’) to Dharam Veer,” claimed Shinde during an event in Palghar.

Fadnavis, in his speech, also claimed that the government was stable and nothing would impact it. “Some people believe that advertisements or someone speaking would lead to something in the government. This is not like the previous government (Maha Vikas Aghadi). This is a government that has been formed to help the downtrodden. This relationship was strong yesterday, today and will remain tomorrow. Our relationship has become stronger in the last one year,” said Fadnavis.

Both the leaders tried their best to ensure that the controversy over the ad issued by the Shiv Sena that compared the chief ministerial tenure of Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde, projecting the latter to be a better CM, as not having any impact on their relations. While the two leaders made all the right noises, the body language between the two was a bit awkward at least initially during the function in Palghar.

The public meeting on Thursday was the first joint public meeting of the two after the ad controversy. Fadnavis had skipped several functions in the last two days which he was to attend with Shinde. BJP leaders claimed that a miffed Fadnavis had skipped the function to send out a message to Shinde. However, the Deputy Chief Minister’s office denied such reports.

Later in the evening, Shinde, his son and Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde, and Devendra Fadnavis had a closed-door meeting at the state government guest house ‘Sahyadri’. Sources said the meeting was held to iron out issues between the two.Sources in the BJP said that the controversy was over and the BJP has sent a message to the Shiv Sena that the advertisement issued was in poor taste and has not been well received by the party.