BOMBAY, 17 August 2005 — Differences between Uddhav Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, and cousin Raj Thackeray came into the open yesterday when the latter attacked Uddhav, working president of the party, saying it was time the Shiv Sena got rid of incompetent leaders.
Raj Thackeray’s outbursts at a news conference and in interviews with the media generated jitters in state politics, and pundits predicted that the collapse of Shiv Sena was now a matter of time. The end of a militant organization is in sight, said Vishwas Kulkarni, a Youth Congress activist in Dadar. “The Shiv Sena ship has started sinking,” said Mohan Jadhav, a Nationalist Congress Party leader.
Trouble has been brewing in the Shiv Sena since the time Bal Thackeray expelled Narayan Rane, a former chief minister. The situation worsened after Uddhav sent his men to checkmate cousin Raj in Sindhdurg district in Konkan where he had gone to distribute relief material to the flood-affected people. Supporters of the two Thackerays clashed there, forcing the district administration to send back Raj to Bombay.
Raj did not take kindly to an attack by Sanjay Raut, editor of the party mouthpiece “Sammna”, questioning his visit to Konkan. “Where was the need for Raut to express his suspicion on the motive of my visit, sitting and writing in Bombay, hundreds of miles away from Konkan? Raut should have written only if he had been present at the spot,” an angry Raj said. Shiv Sena workers say Uddhav tried to foil Raj’s visit to the Konkan region as he suspected Raj intended conspiring with Rane to end the party’s hold on the region.
Differences between the cousins arose after Rane, a protégé of Raj, was expelled from the Shiv Sena last month. Asked whether he thought the expulsion of Rane has caused any damage to the party, Raj said it had damaged the party severely.
Shiv Sena leaders were meeting late yesterday in an effort to control the damage to the party image. Raj was not invited to the meeting.
