India, July 27 -- Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray visited Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's Bandra residence to greet him on his 65th birthday on Sunday, in what is seen as a step forward in alliance between the two parties led by the estranged brothers ahead of the local body polls.

Raj Thackeray visited his cousin Uddhav while the key second rung leaders from the two parties were present at Matoshree. This is the first birthday visit by Raj to Matoshree after he formed MNS in March 2006 by splitting away from Shiv Sena founded by his uncle Bal Thackeray.

The cousins had addressed a joint rally on July 5 at Worli in Mumbai to oppose the alleged imposition of Hindi in schools by the state gove...