Nephew146;s Sena

A portrait of Balasaheb Thackeray looms above Raj8217;s favourite chair where he holds durbar at home in Shivaji Park.

A portrait of Balasaheb Thackeray looms above Raj8217;s favourite chair where he holds durbar at home in Shivaji Park. In the next room hangs a framed close-up of Balasaheb holding a pipe, once clicked by cousin turned political rival Uddhav. In a lobby window is propped a small black-and-white of a child Raj on Balasaheb8217;s lap.

Here in these rooms in the shadow of uncle Balasaheb, on his turf in Shivaji Park, Dadar8212;the heart of the Shiv Sena8217;s mass base8212;the rebel Thackeray and his inner circle strategise how to fill the Park with more people, of more communities, than Balasaheb ever drew, for the first rally on Sunday of the new Sena8212;Raj8217;s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS.

Handpicked Sainiks are quietly raising this newborn party8212;there8217;s a powerful MLA officially still with the Sena, a union lawyer with corporate experience, an ex-deputy leader of the Sena who dug up the Wankhede pitch for Balasaheb in 1991, an ex-chief of a cooperative bank to doctors willing to join a voluntary medical team that Raj will rush to areas of epidemics and disasters.

Spotted in canteens at the RBI, or mingling with unions at the Shiv Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is the party8217;s business-like manager, Shirish Parkar, LLB, MBA. The RBI, UTI, Bank of India, Railways, Airports Authority of India, BMC, insurance companies and teachers8217; unions8230;Parkar8217;s held meetings with union members of all these organisations to lay the ground for future muscle-flexing. 8216;8216;We don8217;t have money to book halls. Even a lunch at a bank canteen can make impact for Raj,8217;8217; says Parkar. 8216;8216;Our USP is new faces, new technique and developmental politics.8217;8217;

Raj has issued orders to organise a simple rally with a secular look, and ex-Sena foot soldiers are arranging a presence of not just the Marathi manoos but all communities and castes. Over the last three days, Muslim, Dalit and North Indian groups have visited Raj in a symbolic show of support.

After 35 years in the Sena, now its ex-deputy leader Shishir Shinde, who infamously dug up the Wankhede pitch in 1991 to oppose Indo-Pak cricket, is compiling a databank of professionals Raj can approach for support, and he walks north Mumbai streets to campaign for MNS.

8216;8216;My image cultivated as a Sena leader is helping me make the MNS famous,8217;8217; Shinde admits. 8216;8216;I organise corner meetings to tell people that the flag8217;s saffron band stands for sacrifice, green for prosperity and blue for stability.8217;8217;

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Sena8217;s Mazgaon MLA Bala Nandgaonkar 8212; in past elections he ousted Chhagan Bhujbal and son Pankaj 8212; is a silent adviser. 8216;8216;It helps the party to have an MLA on its side,8217;8217; says one of Raj8217;s aides. 8216;8216;He8217;s our well-wisher, though technically with the Sena.8217;8217;

Waiting in Raj8217;s wings, Nandgaonkar8217;s political support can swing a huge gain for the new party because his south-central parliamentary constituency spreads across Mumbai8217;s textiledom, the dockyard, and voters living in chawls to high-rises.

English posters supplement the Marathi hoardings splashed over Mumbai. One says, 8216;8216;He8217;s a visionary. He needs missionaries. Be a part of his team.8217;8217;

The words are unlike anything the Sena would say or do. 8216;8216;On Sunday morning, an ex-sainik has organised a church meeting at Vasai on Mumbai8217;s edge, where Christians will pray for Raj,8217;8217; says Parkar.

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As last-minute preparations are made at home on Saturday, Raj enters the lobby in crisp white kurta. A group of waiting youth rush forward and clutch his feet.