'Those who are contesting against Amit, I can expose them all. But I don't want to get into that dirt.'
As the Maharashtra assembly elections heat up, all eyes are on the Mahim constituency from where Amit Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray's son, is in the fray.
Amit faces his uncle Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena-UBT candidate Mahesh Sawant as well as sitting MLA Sada Sarwankar of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).
The electoral fight in Mahim -- a middle class largely Maharashtrian constituency straddling south central and north central Mumbai -- is representative of the fight for Maharashtra, not only because of the personalities and the family dynamics playing out there but also because the constituency includes the Shivaji Park-Dadar area, where in 1966 Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena to fight for the rights of Maharashtrians who were feeling increasingly squeezed out in the wave of immigrants from other states pouring into Mumbai.
The fight for Mahim, then, is a fight to decide who speaks for the Marathi Manoos.
Not too far away from here is the Worli constituency from where Amit's second cousin Aaditya Thackeray, Uddhav's elder son and former state minister, is seeking re-election.
For the firebrand Raj Thackeray, whose MNS has been reduced to a shadow of its former self, his son's election marks a crucial turn in the party's bid to make itself relevant again.
On Sunday, November 10, 2024, he stepped out to address a gathering near the Saamana offices in Prabhadevi; Saamana is the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s daily newspaper.
The meeting went largely unreported, and even the social media handles of the MNS and Raj himself don't have many details, and no visuals at all.
Among the points that Raj Thackeray made while appealing for votes for son Amit were:
'From the same Dadar-Mahim area where Marmik* started, where the Shiv Sena started, Saamana was started, in the same area for the first time a Thackeray is contesting elections.'
'I tell you, his name may be Amit Raj Thackeray, but you don't need an appointment to meet him. I have told all my candidates to be available 24x7 for the people.'
'When Uddhav Thackeray was unwell I met him in the hospital. When Aaditya Thackeray contested from Worli for the first time I didn't put up a candidate against him. Even after that I told them that whether you put up a candidate against Amit Thackeray or not, I will surely get him elected.'
'Those who are contesting against Amit, I can expose them all. But I don't want to get into that dirt. I want to develop Maharashtra.'
On his fallout with the original Shiv Sena and his exit from the party, Raj Thackeray had this to say.
'In 2006 when I left the Shiv Sena I told Balasaheb that my fight was not with him. It was with the coterie that surrounded him.'
'I informed Balasaheb Thackeray and left the Shiv Sena. I did not betray anyone or break the party.'
*Marmik was a Marathi weekly published by Balasaheb Thackeray and Raj Thackeray's father Shrikant Thackeray.
