By IANS,
Mumbai : As Shiv Sena entered its 46th year Sunday, its executive president Uddhav Thackeray welcomed the Republican Party of India (RPI) to its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We shall not throw out your belongings from your office in future,” Thackeray said here late Sunday, referring to the incident when RPI chief Ramdas Athawale’s belongings were thrown out of his office as soon as he finished his tenure as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha in May 2009.
Athawale, on the other hand, thanked Uddhav and his father Bal Thackeray for their kind words.
The senior Thackeray, however, was missing from the celebrations owing to his frail health.
In his address to the party members on the occasion, Udhav Thackeray said that the past year has been an eventful yet a good year for the Sena after a low morale phase among its party workers following the party’s 2009 debacle in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Its recent alliance with the Republican Party of India (RPI) and the entry of the third generation Thackeray – Aditya, with the Yuva Sena, a youth wing of the party – are seen as two major milestones for the party’s comeback.
Thackeray also released a book titled ‘Vicharancha Sona’ (Golden Ideologies), a compilation of Bal Thackeray’s speeches on various subjects made on many occasions in the last 45 years.
Dance, drama and song programmes showcased the 45-year journey of the Shiv Sena.