He was once a close aide of his cousin Aaditya Thackeray and a key leader of the Shiv Sena’s student wing Yuva Sena since its inception in 2010. On Wednesday, Varun Sardesai was among the 65 candidates the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) named in its first list and will make his electoral debut from Bandra East. Sardesai (31) is the son of Aaditya’s maternal aunt and will be in the fray from the constituency where Matoshree, the Thackeray residence, is located. The party’s grip was seen to be loosening in the constituency after it lost it to the Congress’s Zeeshan Siddique in the 2019 Assembly polls. The Yuva Sena leader could face a stiff challenge if Zeeshan decides to contest as he will then garner sympathy votes because of the recent murder of his father and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique. The Congress recently expelled Zeeshan and he is expected to switch to the Ajit Pawar-led party to contest the election. Just after the Sena (UBT) named Sardesai as its nominee, Zeeshan hit out at the party on social media. “Heard that old friends have announced their candidate from Bandra East. Staying together was never in their nature. Have a relationship with only those who give you respect,” he wrote on X. After Shinde loyalists in the undivided Shiv Sena scuttled his chances of contesting the Kalyan West seat in 2019, Tuesday’s nomination makes Sardesai the second member of this generation of the Thackeray family to take the political plunge after Aaditya. A civil engineer by profession, he has been an integral part of the Yuva Sena and has rapidly risen through the party ranks since 2018, when he was appointed its secretary. Sena (UBT) insiders attributed it to Sardesai’s election-related work for the party. He was also the backroom manager for the Yuva Sena in the recently held Mumbai University Senate elections, where the party won all 10 seats. A section of party leaders claimed Sardesai’s rise as a leader was also because he was the face of many Yuva Sena protests. He was at the forefront of the April 2022 protest outside the house of then MP Navneet Rana and her husband, BJP MLA Ravi Rana, after the couple threatened to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree. Following the protest, the couple was forced to withdraw the challenge. Sardesai also led a protest outside Union Minister Narayan Rane’s residence in Mumbai in August 2021 over his objectionable remarks against Uddhav Thackeray. In the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Sardesai extensively campaigned for party candidates while also handling data collation and other related works. “Be it the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in 2017, Mumbai University Senate polls in 2018 or the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls the following year, he (Sardesai) has been micromanaging the party’s campaign. Despite having roots in Matoshree, he is a grassroots leader and remains on the ground with the cadre. This highlights his leadership qualities. He has a long way to go in politics and he will surely win,” said a Sena (UBT) leader. Sardesai is also credited with driving the Sena (UBT)’s social media strategy against rivals, including the BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Bandra East was one of the constituencies that emerged as a bone of contention between the Congress and Sena (UBT) during seat-sharing talks, with the former staking a claim on it citing its 2019 win. “We have exchanged seats and got Chandivali in return,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and Congress leader Vijay Waddetiwar.
