Had promised my father there will be a Shiv Sena CM one day: Uddhav

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has vowed to fulfil the promise he had made to his father and Sena founder, the late Bal Thackeray, that one day, a Shiv Sainik would be the chief minister of Maharashtra. I have vowed to Balasaheb that one day there will be a Shiv Sainik CM. I cannot be at peace until I fulfil this vow, said Uddhav, addressing a gathering of party workers and assembly ticket aspirants at the Rangsharda auditorium in Bandra on Saturday.

Where the Shiv Sena stands today is because of the struggle and sacrifice of its Sainiks, not because others have done us a favour, Uddhav asserted.

Speaking of his party's ambitions, the Sena chief said with time, his party would gain power all over Maharashtra and he wanted to strengthen the partys base in all the constituencies. I have called ticket aspirants from all the 288 constituencies, as I aspire to build a new Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena in power, where every Shiv Sainik will contribute in every possible way, he claimed.

Speaking on the SenaBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance, Uddhav mentioned all was well between the two saffron parties and an announcement would soon be made, once the seat-sharing ratio was fixed. If the alliance materialises, the Sena will support the BJP in all its constituencies because we are not a party that backstabs. If we dont like a decision, we oppose it openly, asserted the Sena chief.

Uddhav also pointed out, since Shiv Sena was formed to serve and protect the rights of the Marathi people, they will not hold back if Marathi people in a BJP constituency suffers due to negligence. Whenever there is a crisis in Maharashtra, Shiv Sainiks are the first to reach out to the ones in distress. Our motive was and will always be safeguarding the Marathi people, he emphasised.