Mumbai, Apr 20 (PTI) Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Sunday said his friendship with Raj Thackeray had ended, the statement coming amid the MNS chief and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray talking in conciliatory terms after two decades of bitterness.

“Now the matter of personal friendship is over,” Shelar said when asked about the possibility of the estranged cousins joining hands.

Over the past few days, Raj and Uddhav have sparked speculation about a possible reconciliation with statements indicating they could ignore “trivial issues” and join hands for the sake of Maharashtra and the Marathi ‘manoos’.

Shelar also raised questions over the conditions set by Uddhav Thackeray for joining hands with his cousin and asked if these were genuine terms or part of a political strategy.

Tensions between Shelar and Raj Thackeray escalated after the latter, in a public speech, used the term “khokebahaddar” for some MLAs.

Shelar had hit back saying those without MLAs or MPs must not make such comments.

The sharp exchange is believed to have sparked the rift between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief and Shelar.

Following this, Raj Thackeray reportedly directed party leaders to target Shelar.

While MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande lampooned him using the term “jholar”, satirical poetry aimed at the BJP MLA was also presented on the MNS stage.

In response, Shelar openly declared the personal friendship was over.

This is not the first instance of political disagreement between the two.

In 2019, Shelar had responded to Raj’s “Laav re to video” campaign with videos of his own. However, the current rift marks the first time the clash has taken a personal turn. PTI ND BNM