Despite them slamming him left, right and centre as well as predicting doom for him on June 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would still love to have Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Modi made an offer to this effect on Friday, asking Thackeray and Pawar, the respective heads of the Sena and NCP factions, to join NDA through their ‘asli’ parties (Shinde Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP), instead of merging with Congress.