The Shiv Sena Saturday literally switched to silent mode as party chief Bal Thackeray's daughter-in-law Smita Jaidev Thackeray said she planned to join the Congress.

The phones of top Sena leaders remained "unavailable", "switched off" or "not reachable" since a prominent national daily broke the news, suddenly diverting the party's attention from the election for a new Mumbai mayor to replace incumbent Shubha Raul.