nagpur shiv sena chief uddhav thackeray has consented to perform the bhoomipujan stonelaying ceremony for the rs3487crore third phase of the national highway connecting mumbai and goa the move is seen as placating by the bjp of its ruling partner shiv sena even as relations between the two parties are far too stretchedthe prestigious project is being executed by union highways minister nitin gadkari and the function to launch the 118km third and final stretch has been organized at kudal in senas stronghold of sindhudurg on june 23 chief minister devendra fadnavis gadkari railway minister suresh prabhu and union heavy industries minister anant gite also of the sena will be prominently present gadkaris office said in an advance releaseit is more than twoandhalf years since bjp and shiv sena renewed their political alliance but the camaraderie and bonhomie of old times between leaders of the two parties is missing in the last three years thackeray himself has lost no opportunity to target the bjp through editorials in sena mouthpiece saamna and in public speeches he attacked prime minister narendra modi as well as cm fadnavis ad nauseum sena spokesman sanjay raut seems on a mission to cause as much discomfort as possible to the bjp through his utterancesin the last two years sena has been more aggressive and in spite of being in the government outdid even the opposition ncpcongress in criticizing fadnavis government it has openly opposed several development projects like the coastal road of mumbai and the cms pet project of nagpurmumbai samruddhi marg express highway the latest is senas open support to the antigovernment strike called by the farmersthe two parties fell apart in 2014 just before the state elections breaking the threedecadeold alliance they fought the assembly elections separately the fallout was that the senafloated myth that it was the big brother and the bjp was at its mercy in maharashtra was destroyed bjp emerged as the single largest party in the state winning twice as many seats as the sena the fact that in the first election after balasaheb thackerays demise uddhav as heir managed to put up a fairly good show and did not allow the bjp to decimate it despite the modi wave has given him immense confidence uddhav realized he could keep his flock together charting his own course by appealing to its committed voters in and around mumbai so in the bmc elections in february uddhav stood his ground and proved he could take on the bjpthe ties between the parties continue to the on a roller coaster sena has managed to eat the cake and have it too by staying in the government while continuing to pillory the bjp thus uddhav gracing what is essentially a bjp function and sharing dais space with fadnavis gadkari and its once old hand prabhu is seen as a move to appease the sena