Uddhav steps out of den, visits Delhi

Flanked by wife Rashmi and party mouth-piece Samna printer Subhash Desai, a beaming Uddhav began his day by inaugurating the party office at the Parliament House. He had Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi for company. Shiv Sena ministers and MPs jostled with one another to get closer to him. Ribbon cut, he garlanded a portrait of Lord Ganesh as Sena MPs shouted in chorus ‘‘Chatrapathi Shivaji ki jai.’’ The function concluded with the distribution of ‘‘ladoos.’’ He was spotted later in the Speaker’s gallery watching proceedings of the House.

Addressing a local unit meeting at Mavlankar Hall, he said, ‘‘Log kehte the Dilli bahut door hai, par pata nahin ham kab Dilli pahunch gaye (People had said Delhi was very far away, but in no time we reached the capital),’’ he said in an apparent reference to the Sena sharing power at the Centre.

Subhash Desai said Uddhav has come to the heart of India with a call to spread out the party message in all directions. He asked the local Shiv Sainiks not focus only on Pakistan and Kashmir ‘‘as there are other problems in the country which they have to address.’’

Delhi Shiv Sena president Jai Bhagwan Goel presented Uddhav with a bow and arrow, Sena’s election symbol.

Uddhav told journalists later that the Sena will contest elections in the four states this year-end. He foresaw mid-term polls in Maharashtra. Simultaneous elections would make it difficult for the NCP to hold on to the foreign-origin issue.

Regarding the ‘‘Mee Mumbaikar’’ campaign, he said it was only aimed at providing decent civic life to 1.5 crore citizens.