PM greets Thackeray on birthday

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today extended birthday greetings to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray amid an unease in the ties between alliance partners BJP and Shiv Sena.

“Warm birthday wishes to the leader of the Shiv Sena, Shri Uddhav Thackeray. May he lead a long life filled with great health,” Modi tweeted.

Thackeray turned 56 today.

His greetings came even as Thackeray has made an angry outburst against the coalition partner BJP, saying Shiv Sena “wasted” 25 years of its 50-year existence by having the alliance.

“In last June, we completed 50 years since our advent and half the time, which means 25 years, we were in alliance (with the BJP).

“Twenty five years is a long time and we grew up by holding hands of each other…but the way certain things unfolded, including breaking up of alliance in previous (assembly) elections…now I feel that we wasted all these 25 years being in alliance…and these years got rotten,” Thackeray said in an interview to Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.