Raj meets Bal Thackeray, but won't budge

Dashing hopes of an amicable solution to the 19-day old crisis in Shiv Sena, rebel leader Raj Thackeray on Thursday said there was no change in his stance that he had made public while quitting all party posts on November 27.

Raj, who along with Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, held discussion with Sena Chief Bal Thackeray at his Bandra residence Matoshree for over an hour earlier in the day, said, "My stance is same as earlier."

Speaking to reporters at his Dadar residence, Raj, who had resigned from all party posts last month following differences with cousin Udhav, however, did not elaborate what had transpired between him and his uncle at the meet.

He referred to Joshi as 'my well-wisher' and 'the well-wisher of the party'.

Earlier, Joshi had held a series of meetings with Raj and Udhav separately over the last few days to find a solution to the crisis in the party.

Raj, who had dashed a letter to the party supremo in November expressing displeasure about cousin Udhav's leadership and functioning and his own 'marginalisation' in the party, had also alleged that the party was being run by a 'coterie of petty clerks who know nothing about politics'.