Union Minister Narayan Rane on Wednesday virtually ruled out the potential alliance between the estranged Thackeray cousins, claiming such a scenario would render Uddhav politically irrelevant with Raj Thackeray replacing him as the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, reported news agency PTI.

The Thackeray cousins are "hosting" a "victory rally" on July 5 after the BJP-led Maharashtra government on Sunday scrapped two GRs on the introduction of the Hindi language in primary schools amid the mounting backlash against the three-language policy.

"Uddhav will not invite him (Raj Thackeray for alliance). Because if Raj joined hands with Uddhav, he would become the leader of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Uddhav would be reduced to a non-entity. Raj Thackeray will never join Sena (UBT) because taking such a step would erase his current identity," the BJP MP told reporters on the premises of Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, reported PTI.