Mumbai, July 6 -- Nearly 20 years after they parted ways over leadership issue in the then Bal Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the Thackeray cousins - Uddhav and Raj - came together on a public platform on Saturday for the cause of Marathi bhasha and Marathi Manoos, in what marked the beginning of a new Thackeray era in Maharashtra politics.

Emotions flowed as the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray had a reunion on the stage of a joint rally organised at the Dome in Sardar Vallabhbhai Stadium in the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) complex in Worli in south Mumbai.

As the two cousins - who had grown up together but were separated for two decades for political reasons - walked onto the stage, Uddhav (64) ...