MUMBAI, July 17 -- Senior NCP (SP) leaders Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad met Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence in Mumbai on Thursday night, bolstering speculation that the opposition party was close to aligning with the NDA. The closed door meeting between the three leaders lasted for about an hour, said people aware of the matter. Shinde, a Sena insider said, postponed his departure to New Delhi for a meeting of NDA members to be chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, in order to meet the two leaders in Mumbai. The meeting came close a day after NCP (SP) national working president Supriya Sule said her party would consider supporting a constitution amendment bill to implement women's reservatio...