Mumbai: Taking the first steps towards rejuvenation, Uddhav
Thackeray, has asked his loyal Sainiks to spot silent supporters
of separated Sainiks — Raj Thackeray and Narayan Rane,
still present in some quarters of the Sena. This move is seen
as a strategy for the Civic Elections in 2007.
In public, however, Uddhav Thackeray has insisted that the
departures of Rane and cousin Raj will not disturb the party.
The BMC polls, that are more than one year away, will most
certainly be a decisive factor in measuring his leadership
skills. Sources report that the aim behind recognizing the
Raj and Rane cohorts is to rule out all possibilities of sabotage
at the time of the elections. Uddhav is, reportedly, also
weighing all options to retain the hold at the BMC.
Though the Sena has shared a long lasting and healthy partnership
with the BJP, it is open to ascertaining the best alliances,
sources state. Following the walk out of two prominent mass-appealing
leaders, Uddhav has also demanded that his men find out whether
the Hindutva ideology will ring a bell among the vote bank.
Those who are supposedly compiling the report include, Leader
of the House, Prabhakar Shinde; Standing Committee chairman,
Sunil Prabhu; Mayor Datta Dalvi; BEST Committee chairman Surendra
Bagalkar.
Meanwhile, Bal Thackeray has cancelled his plans of a family
vacation in Mahabaleshwar, following Raj Thackeray’s
split with the party. Sources also say that the extreme cold
weather conditions also forced the trip to be called off.
The temperature in Mahabaleshwar has dropped down to 5 degrees
Celsius. The eighty-year-old Thackeray, has undergone a bypass
surgery in the past faces difficulty in the cold weather conditions.
The trip was given up as “it wouldn’t look good
to take off on a vacation while the party is in trouble,”
the sources added.
