Shiv Sena celebrates 52nd foundation day in Mumbai, reiterates plan to contest solo

As the Shiv Sena celebrates its 52nd foundation day on Tuesday, its leaders reiterated that the party would come to power on its own merit in Maharashtra in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The party was founded on June 19, 1966, by Bal Thackeray, and emerged from a movement for preferential treatment for Maharashtrians when it comes to job opportunities, over migrants in Mumbai .

Inaugurating the foundation day function at Nesco grounds in Goregaon (east), Sena leader and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said the party would contest on it own in the upcoming state polls and win. “Till now, we have not tested our own strength. We kept contesting and were happy with what we got. But this will not go on anymore. We have decided that we will contest alone, win on our own strength and get a single-party government,” Aaditya said, urging party workers to be prepared as elections are round the corner. “Palghar was the beginning,” he added.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will address party workers later in the evening.

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sena are contemplating a pre-poll alliance, Thackeray is likely to reiterate the party’s stand of contesting solo in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

A senior Sena leader, on condition of anonymity, said: “Thackeray will remain firm on his stand, despite the BJP’s repeated overtures and a visit by BJP president Amit Shah to Matoshree to mend ties.”

The Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, which has been highly critical of the BJP in its recent editorials, also repeated the party’s stance on Tuesday: “The Shiv Sena will form a government on its own strength; it also has the power to determine who will sit on the seat of power in Delhi.”