With the temperature soaring above 43 degree celsius, the weather was especially inclement. But the weather was the least of Thackeray's concerns. He had a delicate situation on his hands, with district Guardian Minister Chandrakant Khaire accused of cavorting with the rival Congress to plot the Sena candidate's defeat.

Newspapers greeted Thackeray with reports of a clandestine meeting between Khaire and senior Congress leader Balasaheb Pawar. However, in a public statement, Pawar, who has earlier been accused of a nexus with Khaire to get Congress candidate Tejaswani Jadhav defeated, said it was the other way around. "Khaire came to me with folded hands. `He (Subhash Patil, the Sena candidate from Kannad) is a Diwakar Raote confidant and his victory would mean my exit as a minister,' Khaire told me," Pawar's statementread.

Obviously, Khaire had a lot of explaining to do when he met Thackeray on Saturday. The party chief was reportedly very upset with the minister, Sena sources said. Thackeray was unwell when he arrived here on Saturday afternoon but he was determined to go ahead with his rally at Kannad.

Reporters were called on Saturday evening, when they were invited for a press conference on Sunday at 10 am. However, Thackeray was advised complete rest and Sunday's press conference was cancelled. His health continued to worsen and his public meeting at Pockarni in Singhnapur had to be advanced by over two hours to ensure that he could leave for Mumbai earlier than scheduled.

During his Kannad rally, Thackeray asked Muslims to mend their ways, saying he would otherwise be forced to rake up the Ram temple issue yet again.

Trying to make political capital of the stresses and strains threatening to wreck the Congress's relationship with the Republican Party of India (RPI) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), he said thereare no Mulayam Singhs in Maharashtra to rush to aid of Muslims in times of crisis. His advice was marked by a thinly-veiled warning: "No one can be without a religion. No one should be. But if you play up your religion than we shall not be far behind," the Sena chief added.