Shiv Sena announced that Aaditya Thackeray, the elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray will contest the upcoming elections from Worli Assembly constituency. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)Shiv Sena youth president Aaditya Thackeray Monday announced that he will contest the forthcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra from the Worli constituency. The 29-year-old grandson of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray will become the first member from the Thackeray family to make a foray into electoral politics.
Addressing party workers at Lala Lajpat Rai college in Worli, Aaditya said, “This is the time not just for me to contest the polls but to remove unemployment and to make new Maharashtra.” He added that party chief Uddav Thackeray could not come for the meeting as he is busy with ticket distribution.
Commenting on Aaditya’s announcement, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, “It is true that nobody from Thackeray family has contested the polls. But, rules need to be changed sometimes to make history.”
A Sena leader had told The Indian Express that Aaditya would file his nomination papers only after the announcement of Sena-BJP alliance. “That may be October 2 or 3,” the leader said.
On Sunday, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the BJP held a meeting in New Delhi to finalise its candidates for the Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.
From Left— Aaditya Thackeray, his mother Rashmi, former Sena CM Manohar Joshi, and Aaditya’s brother Tejas.The party’s top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its chief Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda, deliberated for several hours with other CEC members and leaders from the two states to finalise names of candidates.
READ | Seat watch: Worli, from where first Thackeray clan member may contest, gets ready
The emerging formula for the 288 seats, according to BJP sources, is 162 for BJP, including those for smaller allies. The Shiv Sena share will be at 126 seats. Maharashtra assembly elections are scheduled to be held on October 21, along with Haryana.