Shiv Sena activists want Aditya Thackeray to contest from Worli

Mumbai : Shiv Sena activists have urged Yuva Sena leader Aditya Thackeray to take the electoral plunge and contest from the Worli Assembly constituency in the upcoming state elections, a senior party leader said here on Saturday.

Confirming the development, Anil Parab, a close confidante of the Thackeray family, said a majority of the party workers and leaders in the Worli constituency desire that Aditya Thackeray should throw his hat into the ring for the Assembly polls scheduled later this year.

"We shall make all efforts not only to give him a grand victory, but also to ensure that all opposition parties taste a resounding defeat and even lose their deposits," a confident Parab told IANS. However, he made it clear that the final call on the issue will be taken only by Sena President Uddhav Thackeray.

If Uddhav Thackeray okays his son's candidature, this will be the first time in the party's 53-year history that the Sena will get a 'Thackeray face' in the elections, and the party may even stake claim for the post of Chief Minister.

"The Worli unit will send a report of our review meeting and a detailed proposal to the party chief for his consideration," Parab added.

At the review meeting held late on Friday, sitting Sena MLA Sunil Shinde, former legislator Sachin Ahir, who quit the Nationalist Congress Party to join the Sena last month, and other top local leaders were present.

In case Aditya Thackeray, 29, decides to enter the electoral fray, he will be the second member of the Thackeray clan to contest polls after Shalini Thackeray, 49, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate. Shalini Thackeray is the cousin of MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

Ostensibly laying the groundwork for his big electoral debut, Aditya Thackeray last month launched a state-wide 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' to thank the electorate for their support in the last Lok Sabha polls and to seek their backing for the upcoming Assembly elections.