The Shiv Sena formally elected Uddhav Thackeray as party president at the party’s National Executive Meet held here on Wednesday.
“Uddhav Thackeray was unanimously elected as president of the Shiv Sena. Henceforth, all the party’s policy decisions will be taken by him including appointments in the party,” said senior Sena leader Subhash Desai, speaking to reporters at the Sena Bhawan, party’s headquarters at Dadar in central Mumbai.
Mr. Thackeray was elected president on the birth anniversary of his father, Bal Thackeray.
Election officer Balakrishna Joshi had completed the necessary electoral process, Mr. Desai informed, reiterating that the party would not fill the post of pramukh (supremo) that was held by Bal Thackeray for over four decades.
Incidentally, the party will also not retain the post of executive president that was being held by Mr. Uddhav Thackeray before his appointment as president.
At the meet, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray urged party leaders to focus on the 2014 State Assembly polls to win more seats and oust Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance.
“While a vacuum has been created with Bal Thackeray’s passing away, all Sena leaders have pledged to fulfil the supremo’s dream of seeing the party win the State elections,” said Mr. Desai.
Following the patriarch’s death in November last, Maharashtra’s political climate had been rife with speculation about the Sena’s disintegration, with many analysts predicting large-scale defection of legislators.
