The celebrations outside his house drove home the point that Raj Thackeray has won what matters most to him: decimating the Shiv Sena, and therefore his estranged cousin, Uddhav.

Raj has nearly doubled his performance in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 13 seats, proving that he's no flash in the pan.  Addressing a press conference on Thursday evening, Raj said "The BJP-Shiv Sena was not a good opposition, you can't take people for a ride."

The Sena has placed fourth in the polls, performing worse than its alliance partner, the BJP, which contested fewer seats. Raj's contribution: that he split the saffron vote with his party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

In fact, Raj's candidates have defeated stalwarts in traditional Sena strongholds like Mahim,  Sewri and Nashik.  When asked if his uncle, Bal Thackeray has called him after the results, Raj kept it short: "No". He did, however, have this advice for the Sena: "They should introspect." Three years ago, Raj formed his own party after Bal Thackeray named Uddhav, his son, his political successor.

Experts had been warning that if Raj did well, the Congress-NCP alliance would do well.  While conceding defeat, the BJP acknowledged this.  "I told if Raj Thackeray is in Konkan and Mumbai, this will affect us and then we will blow the election. And that is what happened," said Gopinath Munde, National General Secretary of the BJP.

Raj has offered conditional support to the Congress-NCP government. As it turns out, their performance means they don't need him, but many say they owe him a thank you nonetheless.