Mumbai

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) head Raj Thackeray on Monday met his cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to greet him on his 66th birthday.

Raj Thackeray visited Uddhav Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai's Bandra area to extend birthday greetings to him.

Uddhav, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, had also visited Raj at his "Shivtirth" residence on his birthday in June.

On Sunday, they organised a "celebration" march from Shivaji Park to Siddhivinayak Temple following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister after protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party over the NEET paper leak.

The cousins, who had long been estranged, began appearing together publicly in July 2025 when they shared a political stage for the first time in nearly two decades to mark the rollback of government orders introducing Hindi as a third language in state schools.

They later joined hands to contest the January 2026 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, though the BJP‑led Mahayuti won the elections.

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Raj Thackeray quit the Shiv Sena in 2005 following differences with Uddhav and later went on to form the MNS.