Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray may have got a lot of airtime with his anti-North Indian stir, but his cousin and Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray is planning to grab a lot more eyeballs with the party’s very own channel.

Disclosing this to The Sunday Express, sources in the Shiv Sena said the new channel would be ready for launch within six months. And like the party mouthpiece, the channel too will be called “Saamana”.

In fact, the party is planning twin channels — in Marathi and Hindi. “The Marathi channel would focus on Maharashtra, while the Hindi channel would target a pan-India viewership,” said sources.

With this, Uddhav joins the ranks of J Jayalalithaa (Jaya TV) and M Karuna-nidhi (Kalaignar TV) who have their own channels.

Party circles admit that the recent MNS campaign rattled the Sena leadership. “We could protect our turf because we have our own newspaper,” said sources. With a twin-channel also at his command, Uddhav is confident of outmaneuvering his estranged cousin.

No tax exemption for Bhojpuri films

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena has withdrawn its support to a proposal to extend tax exemption to theatres screening Bhojpuri films in Mumbai. The BMC was due to take up a proposal to extend theatre tax exemption to Bhojpuri films, but the move has been axed following pressure from the ruling Sena.