Three generations of the Thackerays — Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, his son Uddhav and grandson Aditya — voted together for the first time on Tuesday. After voting, the Sena chief and his family took his first joyride on the Bandra-Worli Sealink.
“When will the link to Nariman Point be complete?” he asked Uddhav, the Sena executive president.
Aditya told Hindustan Times later: “[Thackeray senior] saw the sea link for the first time, though he was the one who had dreamt of it and initiated it. He was quite upbeat. It was a nice ride. He remembered how and where the bhoomipujan had been done.”
The Sena chief stepped out of his home, Matoshree in Bandra (East), at 10.15 am to vote at Navjivan School in Kherwardi as huge crowds looked on.
“I had voted in the Lok Sabha elections, but today I voted for the first time with granddad,” Aditya said.
Thackeray (83) smiled at the crowd and raised his left forefinger to indicate that he had voted, the first time since the 2004 elections. He predicted the defeat of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government and the victory of the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance. “Shivshahi will come to power,” he said.
Earlier in the day, he urged people not to vote for those trying to divide the Marathi votes, a reference to his nephew Raj who broke away from the Sena to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Without naming Raj, in a signed appeal to voters in the Sena party mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray said: “Vote in large numbers. Show those trying to divide Marathi votes their place.”
Earlier in the day, he urged people not to vote for those trying to divide the Marathi votes, a reference to his nephew Raj who broke away from the Sena to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Without naming Raj, in a signed appeal to voters in the Sena party mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray said: “Vote in large numbers. Show those trying to divide Marathi votes their place.”