Uddhav Thackeray meets Sharad Pawar, greets him on birthday

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar turns 79 today and among the first to wish him were Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who gifted him the title of "guide".

Mr Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, wished a long, healthy life to Mr Pawar, describing him as "the guiding light of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government" in the state.

Mr Pawar is credited with achieving the impossible by bringing together the ideologically mismatched Sena-NCP-Congress coalition in Maharashtra after more than month of turmoil. The Sena broke up with long-time ally BJP to partner with the NCP and Congress in an alliance that facilitated Mr Thackeray's rise to chief ministership