Maha polls: Aaditya Thackeray to contest from Worli

The Shiv Sena on Sunday named 29-year old Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray as the party’s candidate from Worli in Mumbai for the Assembly polls.

Aaditya, the grandson of Sena founder the late Bal Thackeray, is the first Thackeray to deviate from the family tradition and take the electoral plunge.

Party functionaries said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray handed over the AB form indicating official candidature to Aaditya at their residence, Matoshree, in Bandra East.

In a departure from the practice of formally announcing the list of candidates, Thackeray gave out the forms to 25 candidates on seats where there was no tussle with the BJP.

The Sena was preparing the grounds for Aaditya’s big electoral debut for a few months. It launched ‘Jan Aashirwad Yatra’, as part of which Aaditya traveled around 5,500 km across Maharashtra since July.

“Aaditya was given the ticket by Uddhavji. He is expected to file nomination in a couple of days, followed by a padyatra in his constituency,” a senior party functionary said.

He is being projected as the CM face by the Sena and could become the deputy chief minister, if the saffron alliance returns to power.

Aaditya in an interview to HT in July had said he never dismissed the possibility of contesting polls. “The [seat-sharing] announcement will happen in a day or so. Now, the discussion only for a few seats is pending, so we gave AB forms to our sitting legislators,” Sena leader Subhash Desai told Hindustan Times. Leaders said the announcement of the pact is expected on Monday, in a joint press conference addressed by CM and Thackeray.

The sitting MLAs who got the AB forms include MoS for home and sitting MLA from Sawantwadi Deepkar Kesarkar, MoS water resources and Purandar MLA Vijay Shivtare, MoS textiles and animal husbandry and Jalna legislator Arjun Khotkar, Aurangabad west legislator Sanjay Shirsat, Kolhapur North MLA Rajesh Khirsagar, Karvir legislator Chandradip Narke, Hatkanangale MLA Dr Sujit Minchekar, Shahuwadi MLA Satyajeet Patil and Shirol MLA Ulhas Patil.

Aaditya is scheduled to address cadre of the Worli Assembly segment on Monday evening at Lala Lajpatrai college. Party functionaries indicate that a formal announcement of Aaditya’s candidature could be made there. The party also gave tickets to Sanjay Baba Ghadge (Kagal) in Kolhapur district, Sangram Kupekar (Chandgad) and Sena leader Ramdas Kadam’s son Yogesh from Dapoli.