Shiv Sena legacy battle: Bal Thackeray adorns Maharashtra CM Shinde's chamber

NEW DELHI: Eknath Shinde officially took charge as Maharashtra chief minister at the state secretariat Mantralaya on Thursday morning.
Shinde paid floral tributes to Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Dr BR Ambedkar on his arrival at Mantralaya.
But efforts to project himself as the "true" heir to Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's ideological legacy and his brand of "Hindutva" were all too apparent.
The walls in the CM's chamber is adorned with larger-than-life portraits of Thackeray and Shinde's mentor in the Sena Anand Dighe.


Deepak Kesarkar, a Shinde-loyalist MLA said, Bal Thackeray was nobody's property.
"Balasaheb belongs to the entire state and nobody can change this fact," he said, when asked about the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction's objection to the use of the late Sena founder's name and photograph by the Shinde group.
The rebel group led by Shinde had announced that their faction is to be known as "Shiv Sena Balasaheb." The faction loyal to Uddhav Thackeray was quick to object, saying that Balasaheb's name cannot be used by anyone other than the "official" Shiv Sena.

Kesarkar also criticised the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena's decision to replace Bhavana Gawali as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha.
"With such an action, you are insulting women. She is a five-time MP, who has held the Shiv Sena flag high," he said.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction on Wednesday nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing Gawali.
(With agency inputs)