Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday announced that his party president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray will join forces for the upcoming elections in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Kalyan-Dombivli civic corporations.

“The Thackeray brothers will contest the municipal corporation elections together and win. The strength of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray is the strength of the unity of the Marathi-speakers. No power can break the iron fist of 'Marathi manus' now,” Raut said.

The announcement follows the joint rally held by the Thackeray cousins at Worli Dome in Mumbai in July, where they garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Addressing the gathering, Uddhav Thackeray had said, “We have come together to stay together,” signalling a political rapprochement.