For the second Sunday in a row, Raj Thackeray, accompanied this time by his mother, drove into his cousin Uddhav Thackeray’s home “Matoshree” in Mumbai, bolstering speculation that the alliance between their parties for the civic polls could finally be taking shape.

The visit comes at a time when the Shiv Sena (UBT), Uddhav’s party, has made a series of statements about a deal with Raj’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) being close. A day after the meeting between the two leaders last week, Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut had told reporters that the nature of the meeting was “political in nature” and the two parties were at an advanced stage of discussions.

For the Sena (UBT), having the MNS on board is crucial for the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), where the un

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