Aaditya Thackeray embarked on the Jan Ashirwad Yatra on Thursday.
Shiv Sena youth leader Aaditya Thackeray today sidestepped a question on his possible candidature for the Maharashtra chief minister's post in the upcoming assembly election, instead remarking that he is willing to contest the elections if the people want him to. The son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, he is currently touring the state as part of the five-day Jan Ashirwad Yatra amid rising demands that he be made the face of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
"If the people want me to contest the elections, I will be open to that. There are deliberations within the party and cadre... but the elections are three months away, and all this will happen then," he told NDTV, when asked if he was aspiring for chief ministership.
Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who was sitting next to Mr Thackeray in the tour bus, was more vocal in his demand. "The people of Maharashtra have accepted and loved the Thackeray family for 50 years, and they will want this to happen. Our next generation is Aaditya and we want him to lead," he said.
Mr Raut had dropped hints on the youth leader's possible candidature for the top post on previous occasions too. "A Thackeray doesn't take a deputy's post. A family member is always the chief. The family has prestige in state and national politics," he had said last month, before adding that the final decision in this regard would be taken by Uddhav Thackeray.
The Shiv Sena youth leader had embarked on the 5,000-km Jan Ashirward Yatra after paying his respects to a statue of Chhatrapathi Shivaji in Mumbai on Thursday. He, however, maintained that the statewide tour was more a "pilgrimage" than preparation for the upcoming assembly elections. "We want to listen to the people's voice. I am trying to figure out what is in their minds, their aspirations for the new Maharashtra I am trying to build. Personally, this is a tirth yatra for me, given that the people are the real god for those of us in politics," Mr Thackeray said.
He claimed that the upcoming elections would be a game changer, depending on who is voted in. "This is a field where you can impact a million lives with a simple decision. We are on the brink of a new age where Maharashtra can either go forward in leaps and bounds or stagnate like it did in the previous government's 15 years," the Yuva Sena head said, adding that issues concerning youth, women and farmers would be a big part of the electoral contest.
"We are addressing issues locally as well as policy-wise. There was an issue in Solapur that was pending for 19 years and there was a drought situation because of that. I went there and met the delegation, and in the next six months, the area will be drought-free. The focus is on listening to the people, not telling them anything," he added.
Shiv Sena leaders are hopeful of improving their electoral performance by improving their connect with the people. And with the kind of response Mr Thackeray is getting on the tour so far, they feel that things are on track. "It is but natural for Aadityaji to get the kind of response he is getting, whether it's a Sena bastion or not. Yeh toh bas trailer hai. Picture abhi baaki hai," said Yuva Sena secretary Varun Sardesai, borrowing a line from the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Om Shanti Om.
The relationship between the two allies had entered a particularly dark phase after the 2014 state assembly elections threw up a 122-seat bonanza for the BJP while giving the Shiv Sena a paltry 63. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party regularly picked on the BJP and its policies for the next four years, before finally striking a truce for the recent Lok Sabha elections. Now, things seem to be heating up again, with the Shiv Sena laying its claim to the chief minister's post.