And another story of an estranged family. How Bal Thackeray survived on soup served by Raj.

Slamming his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday said it was Uddhav who had felt the need to forge an alliance with him.

"I was not waiting for his call. I never expressed need. You (Uddhav) showed the necessity. When BJP leaders come to meet me, you criticise them through your newspaper. Why should we tolerate this?" Raj said, addressing a campaign rally for his party's candidate from Kalyan-Dombivli Lok Sabha constituency, Raju Patil, this evening.

"Why didn't he (Uddhav) call me (if he wanted an alliance)?" he said.Countering the Shiv Sena president's remark that he would not talk to someone (for alliance) who had stabbed his uncle Bal Thackeray in the back (by leaving Shiv Sena), Raj pointed out that when Uddhav was hospitalised for cardiac surgery last year, Bal Thackeray sent none other than but him.

"I was asked by the late Balasaheb Thackeray to rush to the hospital... When I drove Uddhav home from the hospital, then Uddhav did not think that I had stabbed Balasaheb in his back," he added.

"Once when I met Balasaheb at his house towards his last stage, I saw him eating a greasy batata vada. I asked why he was eating such stuff. He said, 'I eat only this. This is what I am served'.

"Afterwards, till the time he passed into coma, I sent him some soup everyday and he ate only that...Would he have eaten the soup had he considered me be a back-stabber?" Raj said. Read more