Rashmi Thackeray to visit Shinde’s Navratri mandal

The celebrations at Tembhi Naka,which were launched by late party strongman from Thane, Anand Dighe, have now been taken over by the Shinde camp

Mumbai: While the Shiv Sena is locked in a bitter confrontation with the Eknath Shinde camp over which is the ‘real Sena’, Rashmi Thackeray, wife of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, will on Thursday visit the navratri pandal at Thane’s Tembhi naka, which is Shinde’s stronghold and the epicenter of revolt in the party.

Thane, India - March 6, 2017: Sena Chief Udhhav with wife Rashmi Thackeray visit at TMC Headquarter for Mayor election in Thane, India on Monday March, 06, 2017.(Freelance Photo by Praful Gangurde/Hindustan Times) (Praful Gangurde)

These celebrations at Tembhi Naka were launched by late party strongman from Thane, Anand Dighe. The festivities have now been taken over by the Shinde camp, with Shinde himself leading the procession on Monday, the first day of Navratri.

A Sena functionary said that apart from Tembhi Naka, where she will perform an arati of the goddess, Rashmi will also visit the pandal set up by the party’s Thane MP, Rajan Vichare. “She does this every year,” he added.

Sheetal Mhatre, former corporator and spokesperson of the Shinde camp, alleged that the Sena was trying to gather crowds from Mumbai as it was left with little presence in Thane after Shinde’s rebellion. She claimed that a large number of women Sena workers would accompany Rashmi Thackeray to show support. “Why should this condition befall the party? Why should women from Mumbai be sent to Thane?” she asked.

Rashmi Thackeray has largely stayed away from the party’s political meetings and rallies as the factions led by Thackeray and Shinde are locked in a bitter tussle following a vertical split in the party in June this year. She was heading the party’s mouthpiece Saamana when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister but later stepped down from the position.