After mourning father's death, Uddhav Thackeray announces Maharashtra tour

Mumbai: After mourning Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's death, his son and party executive president Uddhav Thackeray will tour Maharashtra to interact with party activists, a party official said in Mumbai on Saturday. Thackeray's tour will start on December 3 in western Maharashtra's Kolhapur, where he will meet party workers and elected representatives from local bodies to Parliament.

Similar meetings for various regions shall be held on December 5 in Nashik, December 7 in Ratnagiri, December 14 in Nagpur and December 16 in Aurangabad. During those five days, Thackeray will meet activists from all the 35 districts of the state, besides workers of the Yuva Sena, headed by his son, Aditya, and other party organisations.

A majority of these meetings are scheduled as closed-door interactions, which will be attended by top party functionaries like Subhash Desai, Manohar Joshi, Liladhar Dake, Gajanand Kirtikar, Ramdas Kadam, Diwakar Raote and Sanjay Raut. This will be Thackeray's first independent attempt to reach out and strengthen his rapport with the party's rank and file after his charismatic father's death on November 17. Prior to the tour, Thackeray is expected to take the final decision on the much-anticipated issue of who will be the next party chief after his father's death.

Prior to the tour, Uddhav is also expected to take the final decision on who will be the next Shiv Sena chief.

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