Mumbai, Sep 7 - The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has suffered a jolt with its vice president and general secretary -- the husband-wife duo of Sanjan and Sanjay Ghadi -- quitting to join the Shiv Sena.

The couple, who joined the Shiv Sena Sunday, refer to it as a 'homecoming'.

'After all, it is like homecoming for us because we are originally Shiv Sainiks. Now we shall work hard for the forthcoming assembly elections,' Sanjay Ghadi, who was MNS general secretary, told IANS.

The setback for the nearly three-year-old MNS comes after a series of key leaders left to join the Shiv Sena. Women's wing office-bearer Shweta Parulekar went to the party, followed by Prakash Mahajan, who is the brother of the slain Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan.