Notably, CM Shinde on Monday said no claim will be laid on any party property post the Election Commission's decision on the real Shiv Sena as "we are heirs of Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology and have no temptations".
A case was filed against Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, party executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for making inflammatory speeches against migrants from Bihar and its people.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said he has followed the principle of '80 per cent social work and 20 per cent politics' of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in his career and pledged to continue working for the common man. Shinde's remarks came after the state assembly passed a unanimous resolution congratulating him for receiving the 'Adya Jagatguru Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Puraskar', a prestigious award from the Warkari (devotees of Lord Vitthal) community, earlier this month. The resolution comes amid a row over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's alleged defamatory remarks against Shiv Sena leader Shinde, with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding an apology from Kamra even as the opposition came out in his support.
'If Uddhav bhau and Raj bhau come together, who can stop us?' Prasanna D Zore reports on the fervour and hope set off by the Thackeray cousins coming together.
Bal Thackeray never considered caste while giving tickets or appointing ministers when the Shiv Sena came to power, notes political commentator Prakash Bal Joshi. 'He had the guts to take decisions against popular sentiment on the basis of his convictions.'
'I love to meet people.' 'I love that personal connect when they express their genuine, heartfelt feelings.'
Security was beefed up across Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai where 20,000 police personnel were deployed, to keep a tight vigil following the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in Mumbai on Saturday.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday defended Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, who has been accused of receiving illegal favours in land allotment from Maharashtra's Congress-NJationalist Congress Party government.
Hitting out at Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray and his family members for targetting Bihari migrants in Maharashtra, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday claimed that the Thackerays were infiltrators as their forefathers had hailed from Bihar.
Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Daniel Pande and Rajesh Karkera snap up the way supporters have been paying the respects to Bal Thackeray during his funeral procession
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narwekar was on Monday elected unopposed as the speaker of the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly.
They say we became 'Congresswasi'. We didn't become 'Bhajapawasi' even after spending 30 years with the BJP. Then how can we become 'Congresswasi'?
'When one says Shivaji Park, it brings to mind the Shiv Sena led by Balasaheb Thackeray. And that Shiv Sena is now Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena'
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who is undergoing treatment for weakness and fever at the Lilavati hospital in Mumbai has been shifted to a special room from the Intensive Care Unit and is likely to be discharged by Friday, doctors attending on him said on Wednesday.
The 'flaming torch' symbol was used by the Sena in the past during civic body and assembly polls.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has opposed caste-based census, saying it was detrimental to the interests of the country.
He said Shiv Sena protected a political leadership for 25-30 years but they (the BJP) didn't want Sena and also the Akali Dal -- the erstwhile members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Close on the heels of the Sena's success in the civic polls in Mumbai, Thackeray was ordered to be present in court on March 28 by Metropolitan Magistrate M B Date, who had earlier issued summons to him on three occasions.
The former CM said his party's Hindutva is "nationalism" and the Bharatiya Janata Party should explain what is its Hindutva.
MNS leader Raj Thackeray has sparked speculation about a potential political rapprochement with his estranged cousin and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, suggesting their past differences are "trivial" and uniting for the greater good of "Marathi manoos" is not a difficult task. The comments come amid a political landscape in Maharashtra where the Shiv Sena (UBT) is facing a tough battle to retain its stronghold in Mumbai in upcoming civic polls, with competition from the Shinde-led Sena and BJP.
Calling him a man of great "grit" and "conviction", Bollywood celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar and Ajay Devgnn condoled the demise of Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray on Sunday
The elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray will become the first member of the clan ever to contest an election.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday slammed the Maharashtra government saying that "Mughal rule" was prevailing in the state, and declared that he would contest the next assembly election from Thane, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's bastion.
"If any film is maligning the image of a mass leader, the supporters would agitate," Smita, estranged wife of Thackeray's son Jaidev wrote in a letter to Marathi newspaper Loksatta on Wednesday.
While top politicians shirked from making any comment on Bal Thackeray stature, a leading Islamic cleric did not hesitate to praise the Shiv Sena supremo for carving out an unparalleled stature for himself.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday dismissed reports of his being on ventilator and blamed a leading Marathi newspaper for spreading the "falsehood". "I am not on a ventilator," Thackeray said.
Bharatiya Janata Party's newly appointed national president Nitin Gadkari on Monday paid a courtesy visit to saffron ally, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray at latter's residence in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who underwent an angioplasty at a suburban hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday, is stable and will be in the Intensive Care Unit till Thursday. Thackeray, 83, will be in the ICU for one more day and will be shifted on Thursday to a special room, where he will be under observation for two more days before he is discharged. Thackeray was admitted to the private hospital on Monday and underwent an angioplasty.
The Shiv Sena Bhavan is controlled by 'Shivai Seva Trust'. Its founding trustees include late Bal Thackeray and his wife late Meena Thackeray. Many of the founding trustees are not alive now.
Politicians, actors and people from different sections of society landed up near Matoshree -- the residence of ailing Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray -- on Thursday.
Stating that the Shiv Sena was ready to provide the best lawyers to defend Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday ridiculed Congress Member of Parliament Gurudas Kamat, who has demanded his arrest for backing her. "Whenever Congressmen have feats of Muslim appeasement, they dream of my arrest," Thackeray said in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
Targeting All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said the Congress leader has no prospects of becoming prime minister of the country.
The Shiv Sena chief will be the first from the Thackeray family to be sworn in as the chief minister.
In controversial remarks, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Wednesday advocated the creation of "Hindu suicide squads" to fight the scourge of "Islamic terrorism." The remarks immediately drew sharp condemnation from the ally BJP which said Thackeray must behave responsibly.
From drawing cartoons with potent messages to etching for himself a larger-than-life image on Maharashtra's political landscape, Bal Thackeray was the mascot of Marathi pride and Hindutva who aroused extreme emotions but could never be ignored.
The former Bharatiya Janata Party leader said the "bow and arrow" symbol became famous due to the tireless work of Bal Thackeray.
The claim evoked a sharp reaction from Fadnavis, current deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government of BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar, who said Thackeray has "lost his mind".
Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly was continuing in brisk pace in Mumbai on Tuesday. 20 per cent polling had already been completed in the state till noon.
