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Uddhav's journey from Matoshree to Varsha
Mrityunjay Bose
DHNS
Last Updated IST
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray being greeted after he was chosen as the nominee for Maharashtra chief minister's post by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance. (PTI Photo)
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray being greeted after he was chosen as the nominee for Maharashtra chief minister's post by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance. (PTI Photo)

The journey from Matoshree to Varsha has been unique.

It's a generational shift from the remote control to direct control.

When the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power from 1995-99, late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray ran the government from what he described as "remote control".

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Matoshree, the modest bungalow of the Thackerays, was the buzz of political activities.

Twenty years later, his son Uddhav Thackeray, moves to Varsha, the palatial bungalow of Maharashtra chief minister at Malabar Hill.

Varsha will now he the hotbed of politics as 59-year-old Thackeray runs the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government.

From Mantralaya, Uddhav, a photographer-turned-politician, will run the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government with "direct control".

Fifty-three years after Shiv Sena was formed in 1966, Uddhav becomes the first Thackeray to assume any post of power.

Thackeray's elder son Aaditya is an MLA from Worli and younger son Tejas is a wildlife enthusiast.

His wife Rashmi plays a leading role within the family.

"It is a big shift from a remote control to direct control," a Thackeray family insider said.

The Thackeray sarkar would have several challenges ahead and a big Opposition bench of the BJP.

But, Thackeray has by his side a great unifier in the form of NCP supremo and Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar.

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(Published 26 November 2019, 20:23 IST)