Season Of Realignment

The split in the Shiv Sena has resulted in the division of not just party leadership, but families of leaders as well

- Dnyanesh Jathar

In Maharashtra, the split in the Shiv Sena has not been limited to party cadre and assets alone. Even families have split up based on their affiliations to either Chief Minister Eknath Shinde or former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The most prominent example: the Thackeray family itself. The family of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray’s eldest son Bindumadhav, who died in a road accident in 1996, has joined hands with Shinde. Bindumadhav’s son Nihar Thackeray was one of the first from the Thackeray family to join the Shinde camp last year. A lawyer, Nihar is part of the team representing Shinde in the Supreme Court.

Ties between Nihar and Uddhav’s families had been cordial. Nihar’s mother, Madhavi, moved out of Matoshree in the years following her husband’s death, and raised her son away from the political spotlight. Nihar completed his commerce and law degrees from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and Government Law College in Mumbai, and studied international arbitration at the London School of Economics. He has been running his own law firm in Mumbai since 2017.

On Dussehra last October, when Uddhav and his son, Aaditya, were addressing Shiv Sainiks at Shivaji Park, Nihar chose to attend Eknath Shinde’s rally at the Bandra Kurla Complex ground. He said he had decided to join hands with Shinde as the latter was taking forward the legacy of Balasaheb, his grandfather.

Married to BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil’s daughter, Nihar is seen as the Shinde camp’s trump card against Aaditya. It is said that he is being groomed to take on his cousin in Worli in the 2024 assembly polls.