Manohar Joshi apologises to Uddhav Thackeray for questioning his leadership credentials

Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi on Friday tendered a public apology to party president Uddhav Thackeray for questioning his leadership credentials.

In a signed statement, Joshi said that if his comments had lowered the dignity or insulted the party chief, then: "I hereby tender a public apology."

Joshi's statement came barely hours after a stern Thackeray warned that those party leaders - who are dissatisfied with his leadership - were free to leave the party.

Thackeray's tough stance came after last month's outburst by Joshi when he accused the party leadership of being weak in the matter of constructing a memorial for the late supremo Bal Thackeray.

The Joshi issue was followed by a highly publicised meeting of another senior party leader and five time Lok Sabha member Mohan Rawale with the rival Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leaders recently.