The 145;Insider146;

In the past week, which was a blur of violence and name-calling, Thackeray persisted in what has been his only trajectory for all of 2008 8212; jobs for the sons of the soil and ousting the 8220;outsiders8221;. Even the agitation against candidates from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar taking the Railway Recruitment Board exams in the state is reminiscent of his days with the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena BVS, the Shiv Sena8217;s students8217; wing. His additions to the brew have been repeatedly targeting the 8216;Chora Ganga kinare waala8217; and those conducting the Chhath puja, apart from the opportunism displayed in jumping into the fray when Jet Airways announced a major retrenchment drive.

For all practical purposes, from their model of fund-raising to their street-fighting style, his is just another group of Shiv Sainiks. The MNS fund-raising patterns are modelled after the Sena as well 8212; small-time shop-owners and entrepreneurs cough up small sums regularly, even as the MNS, like the Sena before it, makes inroads into major trade union fields like aviation, surface transport and hospitality. Raj8217;s own speeches are peppered, alongside the Sena-style rabble rousing, with lowbrow jokes called 8216;Thackeri8217; by the Marathi press after a style patented by the senior Thackeray.

And yet, for all his mass appeal and the violence he appears to instigate, Raj Thackeray is a suave, urbane artiste with an eclectic taste in music, a love for fast cars 8212; he enjoys a zip in friend Sachin Tendulkar8217;s Ferrari in the dead of night 8212; and with an expensive taste in everything from designer clothes and accessories, to art and alcohol. He is secular-minded, conscious about his appearance in public, has little understanding of caste the Thackerays themselves belong to the politically insignificant CKP caste and loves a good conversation over a smoke.

8220;Acchha chhokra,8221; or good boy, is how he is described by Jairaj Salgaokar, owner of Kalnirnay, the Maharashtrian calendar-printing major. 8220;I have seen him since he was a child, as I used to frequent the Thackerays8217; home. He used to be hot-tempered at one time, but no longer.8221;

According to Salgaokar, who is considered quite close to Raj, apart from Bal Thackeray himself, the other big influence on his thinking has been Babasaheb Purandare, the writer-historian who has written extensively on the life and times of Shivaji. Like his father Shrikant Thackeray, an accomplished music director who composed for several Marathi films, he is moody. 8220;Kaaka, kaaka, uncle, uncle was what we would hear from him when Raj was about three or four years old,8221; says Pandharinath Sawant, now in his seventies and a close friend of Shrikant. Now editor of Marmik, launched by Bal Thackeray as a mouthpiece and then as a cartoon weekly, Sawant also remembers Raj8217;s skill as a caricaturist. 8220;In my heart, I would compare him to Balasaheb,8221; says Sawant.

Having studied art at the JJ School of Art, Raj worked as a cartoonist with the publication for about four years since 1985, before getting more involved with the BVS and then launching the Shiv Udyog Sena. 8220;He could react with a cartoon as quickly as a mirror shows you an image. His uncle stopped drawing cartoons when his hands began to shake, Raj has unfortunately stopped too early.8221;

Extremely well-connected in Bollywood even in the early 1990s, Raj also organised the controversial Michael Jackson concert to raise funds for the Shiv Udyog Sena. When it did not yield the funds he wanted, he organised Shraddhanjali, a rare concert by Lata Mangeshkar, with appearances by the Bollywood who8217;s who from Dilip Kumar to Amitabh Bachchan. While many in the Thackeray family have tested the Bollywood waters 8212; Binda made a film, as did Jaidev and Smita Thackeray 8212; Raj was once rumoured to be harbouring a big dream: a movie with Amitabh Bachchan.

The past three years have been busy, with him travelling across the state by road to help build a mass base. But senior political observers say he has no time or patience for serious reading, a deeper understanding of ideologies and economics. He also lacks humility, never losing his bearings as a man wielding some power.

And, like the Shiv Sena8217;s other bete noir Narayan Rane 8212; who last week surprised the Congress by echoing the MNS8217;s supposed jobs-for-locals cause 8212; Raj Thackeray believes he was denied what was rightfully his.

Uddhav and Raj had both been projected as the next generation of leaders of a newly dynastic party around 1992, but there was never any doubt on which cousin was more popular among the Sainiks.

Still, it could have been more than 8216;putraprem8217; that led Bal Thackeray to anoint his son as successor, over the more resourceful and well-connected nephew.

Many believe the turning point in Raj8217;s career as a Shiv Sainik was the Ramesh Kini murder of 1996, in which Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena leader and key Raj aide Ashutosh Rane was a co-accused. Raj was exonerated by the CBI and never charged and Rane was discharged in 2002 for want of evidence. But the whispers of a scandal had done damage. The man found dead in a Pune cinema hall, after all, was a middle-class Maharashtrian. 8220;He hasn8217;t been able to cash in on the first 10 or 12 years of life as a Sainik,8221; says a senior city politician associated with Raj in his student politics days. 8220;Maybe he took too much for granted.8221;

Raj was then cutting his teeth as a moonlighting businessman, dabbling in real estate. He now has considerable stakes in construction companies in Maharashtra and Dubai. As a leader, he is inspiring, says Haji Arafat Sheikh, an MNS vice-president, the Muslim face of the party and leader of the MNS transport wing. 8220;During our training, he asked us to be his hands across the state,8221; says Sheikh who, like most of the MNS top brass, has been with Raj since his BVS days.

A common grouse among senior Sainiks who severed decade-long relationships with the Sena to join the MNS was that Raj8217;s men in the Sena had never got their due. While other student politicians went on to become corporators and were later in the reckoning for Legislative Assembly poll tickets, BVS men remained BVS men. 8220;We stayed with him because he is our leader,8221; says Sheikh.

But it is not just chance that many of his closest aides are also staunch opponents of Uddhav Thackeray and his now-abandoned attempts to give the Shiv Sena a moderate face through the Mee Mumbaikar campaign, an attempt to create a pan-community identity for supporters in a break from the party8217;s strong regional chauvinism. In fact, February8217;s tirade against North Indians by the MNS was triggered by Uddhav attending traditional North Indian 8216;lai chana8217; meetings and the Uttar Bharatiya Divas celebrations.

8220;He is not communal. I am a Marathi Manoos even if I am a Muslim, because I am a native of Pune. His words are misunderstood,8221; Sheikh laments, adding that MNS men would now demand the arrest of Sonia Gandhi or Mulayam Singh Yadav every time a Congressman or Samajwadi Party member participates in a riot.

Such an attitude among his men, coupled with their willingness to smash windscreens and break bones, is what could alienate the Marathi intelligentsia among whom his line actually finds several sympathisers. 8220;He is out to prove only one thing, that he is a better leader than Uddhav8230; But he is overplaying his cards and that could boomerang,8221; says senior political commentator and former Loksatta editor Aroon Tikekar. Loksatta editor Kumar Ketkar, who has known Raj for several years, says: 8220;He is sensitive. He saw the film Gandhi perhaps nearly 50 times and each time he was overwhelmed and even wept. Paradoxically, he has a fascination for Hitler, bordering on great admiration, not knowing the context and historical issues, nor bothered about them.8221;

When his veneration of a dangerous icon proves counterproductive, Maharashtra will know in time.

His close aides

Rajan Shirodkar

MD of Matoshree Realty and a senior advisor to Raj, known to remain in the background. Was president of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena before going on to hold various positions in the Shiv Sena. He is also Raj8217;s business associate. Together, Matoshree Realty and Kohinoor Group 8212; owned by Manohar Joshi8217;s son Unmesh 8212; purchased Dadar8217;s Kohinoor Mill property for a whopping Rs 421 crore in 2005, a record for textile mill deals then. His son Aditya now heads the MNS students8217; wing.

Shirish Parkar

Seen as a vocal representative of Raj8217;s ideas and ideology, Parkar has been with the leader since the early 1990s and is a close friend. An MBA, he gave up a job with a multinational firm to turn full-time politician with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Along with Ashutosh Rane, Nitin Sardesai and a few others, he was part ofthe famed 8220;Azad Katta8221; group, named so for an Irani cafeacute; named Azad in Shivaji Park where Raj and his friends would hang out till late in the evenings during their student days.

Bala Nandgaonkar

An MLA from Mazgaon, he won his seat this term on a Shiv Sena ticket following a keenly contested battle with the NCP8217;s Pankaj Bhujbal, son of former Shiv Sainik Chhagan Bhujbal, who has a huge following in the Mazgaon-Tadwadi area. A true-to-his roots Shiv Sainik, was accused in a few cases of rioting during the 1992-1993 communal clashes. He travels with Raj extensively.

Atul Sarpotdar

Son of senior Sena leader Madhukar Sarpotdar, has been with Raj since his Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena days. Sarpotdar is now the general secretary of the MNS and handles the western suburbs of Mumbai for the party. He also is the contact person for Marathwada.

Shishir Shinde

A former Sena member of the Legislative Council, was in the headlines chiefly for his participation in destroying the Wankhede cricket pitch on the eve of an Indo-Pak match in 1991. Shinde is general secretary, spokesperson and handles the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.