Mumbai, Jul 2: UPA presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee would meet Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray here on Jul 13 to thank him for backing his candidature, a senior Congress leader said here today.

“Mukerjee is scheduled to meet the Sena chief on Jul 13,” MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre told PTI.

Thakre said he would be present at the meeting, to be held at 6 pm, along with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Thackeray recently broke ranks with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on the presidential issue, saying his party would vote for Mukherjee in the poll on Jul 19.

Having declared support for Mukherjee, Thackeray recently described him as a “superpower” in the UPA government and said the Opposition should be happy that with his election the government will become a “lame duck”.

“Mukherjee is a superpower in the Manmohan Singh government and because of his going to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the government is going to become a lame duck. That is why Opposition parties should be most happy,” Thackeray had said.

In 2007 too, Thackeray had supported the UPA choice Pratibha Patil, breaking ranks with NDA, on the ground of she being a Maharashtrian.

In 2007, the then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh (Congress) and Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil (NCP) had visited Thackeray’s home in suburban Bandra to thank him.

Mukherjee is also scheduled to meet party legislators from the state, the MPCC chief said.