Poet Aaditya’s rise to Shiv Sena’s core leadership

MUMBAI: Tuesday was a big day for the Shiv Sena, and its newest net a( leader) as it terms members of the party’s core leadership team. That was when the party’s national executive selected the 27-year old scion of the Thackeray family, Aaditya, as a neta.

Aaditya’s ascension was a given because of his surname. It was evident in 2010 when his grandfather, the late Bal Thackeray, formally named a generation next leader of the party. With his naming as Net a, A ad it ya is set to become the undisputed number two in the party after his father Uddhav. Other leaders in the core team include former chief minister Manohar Joshi and Subhash Desai, Diwakar Raote, and Anant Geete.

Over the past seven years, Aaditya, also a poet and an avid football fan, has managed to create a niche for himself and find acceptance in the party. He has also changed the its texture by bringing a contemporary, modern, urban middle class touch. He often voices concerns of aspirational middle class and the upper middle class urban citizens—not the typical remit of a Se na leader.

“Aaditya is now known in the party for ushering in a much needed modern perspective to our organisation as well as to our campaigning methods. He has a good connection with young people, which we were missing for sometime. He also campaigned extensively for the civic polls in the state last year and cut his teeth by handling election rallies on his own. He is ready for the next step ,” said a senior Se na leader who did not want to be named.

Fluent in English, unlike his father or uncle Raj, Aaditya has led party delegations with CM Dev end ra F ad na vis and acquired a social media personality of his own.