Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday criticised Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar [Images] for joining hands with the Congress, but said he still considered him a friend.

In an interview to Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray said, "The fact is a Maratha from Maharashtra has become slave of a foreign lady [Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images]]. At least Maratha leaders should not do that."

He said the NCP chief could not stick to any principle. "Now he is with Sonia Gandhi. He has never been firm on any stand," Thackeray said in the interview being published in the daily in three parts, starting Thursday.

However, he said, "I still consider Pawar a friend and it is because of politics that our cordial relations turned sour."

He said if they were together then no one would have dared to play politics with them and they would have had an upper hand in national politics.