Raj Shrikant Thackeray today embarked on a 40-day tour to carve a niche for himself in Maharashtra where Shiv Sena ideals appear to be waning. He is 39, the same age his uncle Bal Thackeray was in 1966 when he created the Sena, born out of anger towards south Indians—later Muslims, then north Indians—and changed Maharashtra politics forever.As he set out on his tour, Raj stopped at the city’s most popular temple, Siddhivinayak, and headed out with customary Sena fanfare to the eastern suburb of Thane.There were Sena motorcycle outriders, their saffrons scarves aflutter, many impromptu roadside stops to talk to supporters, but Raj headed out to make mass contact with a state where the Sena’s anger has increasingly been replaced by rising aspirations. Raj made his first stance public: there would be no anger against his uncle. The eulogies and hero-worship would continue. He did not react to his uncle’s interview to Sena mouthpiece Saamna. ‘‘I don’t want to say anything,’’ Raj told reporters.The senior Thackeray had said yesterday in the interview that the exit of Raj had not saddened him. However, in the two-part interview, Thackeray’s tone today was different. He said that those who left the party should return.‘‘Ya chimnyno parat phira re.. Gharakade apulya (little sparrows should return to their nest),’’ he said quoting from a popular Marathi folk song. About Raj, his uncle said today, ‘‘I was shocked and hurt. I did not expect this from Raj.even in my dreams.Whatever Raj wanted, Uddhav and I agreed. But I cannot say which was the ‘Guru’ who advised and poisoned his mind,’’ he added.He said it was he who ran the Sena. ‘‘Even if I wear goggles, I am not Dhritarashtra of the Mahabharata,’’ he said. ‘‘I told Raj that he and Uddhav should sit together and discuss things. What can I do if there were no straight demands.,’’ Thackeray said.Raj, when asked today if he had emerged from the emotional trauma he had spoken of when he quit the Sena last month, replied: ‘‘You will perhaps never understand this. You never come out of an emotional trauma of this kind. I will forever have profound attachment to Balasaheb.’’What would the contours be of his new party? Raj said he was in no hurry. ‘‘I do not want to hasten things,’’ he said. ‘‘I am not for short-term goals and half-an-hour kind of political agitations. I have long term goals.’’ What those were, he would not say in typical counter-questioning Bal-speak: ‘‘Why should I reveal it now?’’Asked if he was still using his uncle’s charisma to win over the Sainiks, Raj compared the Sena patriarch to Chhatrapati Shivaji. ‘‘You don’t ask Shivaji Maharaj’s relatives whether you can worship him or not. Balasaheb will continue to be my deity, the only deity, forever.’’But amid the welcomes, trouble was evident. Former Sena MLA Shishir Shinde, a Raj acolyte, was absent when the convoy was welcomed at Mulund.Narayan Rane’s son booked for issuing death threat to Sena leaderMUMBAI: Nilesh Rane, son of former Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane was booked by police on Monday on the charge of issuing a death threat to a Shiv Sena officebearer from suburban Chembur on January 11. The Sena’s Chembur unit has been agitating in front of the local police station demanding action against Nilesh after he allegedly threatened Sena Shakha Pramukh from Chembur Shekhar Chavan with dire consequences for interfering in his father’s stronghold, police said.Nilesh allegedly stormed into Chavan’s house on January 11 with supporters and, along with a close Rane aide Ashok Kadam, threatened Chavan, police said.Nilesh has been shown as a wanted accused and police sources said action will be taken after a thorough probe into the matter. — PTI
