Key Points

Raj Thackeray had invited Uddhav Thackeray for Lord Ganesh's darshan.

Uddhav's maiden visit to 'Shivtirth' residence has sent a strong signal to the cadres of respective parties and the Mahayuti government about the increasing bonhomie and rapprochement between the two brothers.

Uddhav and Raj Thackeray did not speak to reporters about the family get-together.

However, Shiv Sena (UBT) in a post on social media said, "Party chief took the Ganesh darshan at the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray was accompanied by his wife Rashmi and sons Aaditya and Tejas."

Earlier, Raj Thackeray had visited 'Matoshree' to wish Uddhav on his birthday on July 27.

It came days after both brothers shared the dais after 20 years at a "victory rally" held on July 5 in Worli to celebrate the government's withdrawal of its two resolutions with regard to the introduction of Hindi, along with Marathi and English, for classes 1 to 5.

The Thackeray brothers had held protests opposing the "imposition" of Hindi, saying that it would not be tolerated in Maharashtra, where Marathi has recently been given the Classical Language status.

During the victory rally, Uddhav had announced that they had "come together to stay together", though he did not divulge details about the tie-up between the two parties in the BMC elections.

Raj Thackeray also declared that they would remain together in future too, but preferred silence over alliance.

Later, Uddhav said that the party will take a call about the alliance with MNS.

Incidentally, both brothers have asked their respective cadres to gear up preparations for BMC elections and keep a close vigil on the voter list.

They also called the cadres to increase the outreach with voters.

Two days ago, both Uddhav and Raj Thackeray raised the vote theft issue, asking their cadres to check the electoral rolls to assess "bogus" voters.

Their comments came after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties had levelled serious charges of vote rigging and criticised the Election Commission of India.

- IANS