Shiv Sena's Big Gamble

Facing the BJP juggernaut, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray looks to son Aaditya to keep the party in the game.

- Kiran D. Tare

Shiv Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray was at a party-organised students’ interaction in Yavatmal on August 25, talking about exams and semester system shortfalls when a political question threw him off balance. The region has seen a spike in farmer suicides and a student, Rahul Patil, wanted to know why the Sena had not withdrawn support to the Devendra Fadnavisled BJP government over the issue. Aaditya lost his cool and asked the student which party he belonged to. He later tried to explain how the BJP-Sena government was farmer-friendly, how it had distributed seeds, fodder and fertiliser and constructed ponds, but by then the 500-strong audience had gone cold on him.