The Shiv Sena has been withstanding many a threat, from sworn enemies like Industries Minister Narayan Rane, who quit the party in 2005.

The vote in Mumbai maybe over, but a new threat seems to be emerging for the Sena, in the form of MNS led by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS). An analysis of the ground situation in the Shiv Sena heartland, covering saffron strongholds like Parel and Lalbag, suggests that young voters, even within families that have been loyal to the Shiv Sena, may be shifting allegiance to the MNS.

Rumblings of this generational change is evident in families like the Sawants, spread across the erstwhile textile mill areas of Girangaon, which gave the Shiv Sena its first major political opening by electing its first MLA Wamanrao Mahadik in 1971.

While parents, who believe in the Shiv Sena chief, stand by the saffron party, the young MNS cadre sees Raj as the natural successor of Bal Thackeray.

Sitting in his tenement at Lalbag, Sachin Shivram Sawant (30) and his brother Sanjay (28) swear by Raj saheb. “The Shiv Sena is not inferior. But it is Raj saheb who can give justice to the sons of the soil,” said Sachin. His mother Sumitra (54), who remembers Bal Thackeray’s speeches and her late husband Shivram’s support for the Sena, is still a staunch Shiv Sena sympathiser. However, she too admits that Raj is getting strong.

Byculla resident and MNS functionary Vikrant (Gotya) Khadpe, whose father Dineshchandra (61) has been a Shiv Sena supporter since its inception and is still loyal to Bal Thackeray, admitted that the aggressive MNS posturing was indeed luring the youth.

... contd.