Less than a week ago all seemed well within the Thackeray camp. Cousins Uddhav and Raj, who fell out in 2005, had buried the axe and were set to contest the high-profile Mumbai civic polls together, presenting quite the conundrum to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling alliance.
But on Wednesday eyebrows were raised after candidates backed by the Thackeray clan were routed in elections for the employees union of the city's transport and electricity supply body.
And on Thursday rumour mills fired up after Raj Thackeray met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Candidates backed by the BJP-led alliance won seven of the 21 seats on offer.
This was after Mr Fadnavis said the people had rejected the 'Thackeray brand' amid cash-for-vote allegations against a local politician associated with Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena UBT.
A re-re-alignment, if there is to be one, will exacerbate an already confused political landscape in the state months, if not weeks, before the Mumbai civic body election.
But Raj Thackeray has played down any such talk, explaining the meeting with the Chief Minister was related to town planning issues, "subjects that have always been of interest to me".
"In cities across Maharashtra redevelopment is taking place. Population is increasing... traffic is increasing... and a large number of people are coming to live here. In Mumbai, traffic is a major problem. People don't know traffic etiquette - they park vehicles anywhere and leave," he said.
"Today I discussed this issue with the Chief Minister as well as Mumbai Police," Raj Thackeray said, "I prepared a presentation and hope the state takes this issue seriously and works on it."
The meeting was also played down by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, although he suggested it was more of a courtesy call. "This is a part of Maharashtra's tradition and culture... in which people meet with prominent leaders. There is no need to derive any other meaning from it."
"Now who should meet whom... who goes to meet whom.... what should I say? Many people keep meeting. The head of the state, Devendra ji is there, so people are going to meet and whether in power or not, whether in political life or not, many people keep going."
Last week, as India celebrated Independence Day, Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut spoke about the strength of the Thackeray cousins' alliance and predicted victory in the civic polls.
"No power cannot break the iron fist of 'Marathi manus' now," he told reporters.
The cousins split in November 2005, shortly after Shiv Sena patriarch and founder Bal Thackeray died. Talk of a reunion first began after the state government's aborted efforts to make the teaching of Hindi mandatory in schools triggered violent pushback over the 'Marathi' identity.
And that reunion crystalised in late-July, when Raj Thackeray was welcomed in Matoshree, the Thackeray family residence and nerve centre, to celebrate Uddhav Thackeray's birthday.
Civic polls in the larger Mumbai region - particularly for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which the Uddhav Sena sees as its bastion - are a matter of prestige. The Uddhav-Raj alliance hopes to sweep these and make a statement before the next Assembly election.
The state government's flip-flop on the three-language policy and the introduction of Hindi as a third language proved what seemed to be a galvanising force for the parties led by the cousins.
The BJP, however, has maintained it is unperturbed by the Thackeray reunion. And the employee union election setback has reinforced its line - that the cousins are not an electoral threat.
