Aaditya Thackeray, the veritable ‘crown prince’ of the Shiv Sena, on Thursday filed his nomination papers from the Worli Assembly seat in Mumbai for the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Before filing his nomination papers, Aaditya prayed before a portrait of his grandfather and Sena founder-patriarch the late Bal Thackeray at his family home ‘Matoshri’ in Bandra.
In between, he also got a phone call of best wishes from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and a member of Sena’s ruling ally the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Thereafter, the 29-year-old stepped out to create history by becoming the first member of the Thackeray family to discard the ‘remote control’ and choose to make a direct connect with the public by plunging into the electoral fray.
Aaditya was accompanied by a huge crowd in a procession from his home to Worli in a show of strength befitting the momentous occasion.
At the election office, he was greeted by his beaming parents Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and mom Rashmi, and the excited younger sibling Tejas.
Aaditya, who is the President of Shiv Sena’s youth wing, Yuva Sena, was appointed as a ‘leader’ of the parent party a few years ago and recently conducted a gruelling ‘Maha Janaashirwad Yatra’ in the state.
Sena workers carried placards with photos of Aaditya, his father Uddhav and late grandfather at Thursday’s roadshow, which wend its way throught the Worli area comprising some of the poshest and the poorest localities of south-central Mumbai.
