The Thackeray cousins have vowed to continue their Marathi identity politics after losing control of the country’s richest civic body after 25 years.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s meeting with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi has once again brought the spotlight back on the unresolved leadership question in Karnataka.

Led by party supremo Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM has won 125 seats across key municipal corporations in Maharashtra, which not only sharply expanded its footprint but also altered the state’s traditional political equations.