Mumbai, The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said on Friday that till Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray is the Chief Minister, his estranged cousin (Raj Thackeray) won't praise Maharashtra.

State NCP President and Water Resources Minister Jayant R. Patil made the caustic remarks when questioned about the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) head's recent praise for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"Earlier, he lauded Gujarat, now he is praising UP. He will go all around the country, visiting and appreciating all other states except Maharahtra. As long as Uddhav Thackeray is the CM, he (Raj Thackeray) will not have a good word for this state," Patil said.

On a possible MNS-BJP tie-up, Patil said that given MNS' past record of treating the Hindi-speaking (North Indian) people in Maharashtra, the BJP is well aware of the consequences of such an alliance.

About speculation in some quarters that the BJP is wooing the MNS ostensibly at the behest of the Nagpur-based Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Patil pointed out that the RSS is a non-political organisation that doesn't concern itself with such things.

The NCP leader also surmised that it may be the BJP which is trying to drag the RSS into the whole affair to justify its stance, and hence such stories are being deliberately circulated.

Mostly on the political fringes for the past 18 years, the MNS has suddenly shot into the limelight with its shrill anti-loudspeakers campaign launched by Raj Thackeray as part of frantic efforts to carve a political niche for his party in the upcoming civic elections.