With less than a month to go for the state Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uddhav Thackeray gave a strong indication that a pre-poll alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena would be sealed.

Once a bitter Modi critic, the Sena president praised the PM for, and congratulated him on the abrogation of Article 370. He also urged Modi to build the Ram Mandir at the earliest and implement a uniform civil code for the entire country. The PM returned the compliment, calling Thackeray his younger brother.