Shiv Sena to pitch roaring cub Aaditya Thackeray as Deputy Chief Minister

In a departure from its policy to not vie for an official post, the Shiv Sena is set to pitch Thackeray scion Aaditya's name for the state Deputy Chief Minister's seat in the proposed cabinet expansion slated for June 14 or 15. Insiders say a high-level dialogue is on between the Sena leadership and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to convince ally BJP about the move.

It remains to be seen whether BJP will accept Sena's proposal, especially when it seems to have agreed to a YSR Congress candidate for the Deputy Speaker's post in Lok Sabha, instead of giving it to Shiv Sena. The party has already recommended Gajanan Kirtikar's name for the post of Deputy CM.

If approved, it will be the first time a Thackeray will assume a political post. This comes at a time when the party is pitted against its frenemy, a buoyant BJP with 23 Lok Sabha seats — five more than Sena.

Ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls in September, Sena will need a Thackeray to keep the cadre charged and motivate it to more seats than BJP to stake claim to the Chief Minister's post.

As per rules, any person who is not the member of a house of the state legislature can continue to hold a ministerial rank for six months. If Aaditya becomes DCM, he can stay put — without contesting any polls — till the next Assembly elections.

After much playing hard to get, Sena agreed to an alliance with BJP for the Lok Sabha polls on the understanding they would share seats and power equally in the assembly and state government. Another condition was regardless of how many seats either of them wins, they will split the time spent occupying the CM's post equally.

However, despite Sena's ambitions, it needs to repair its own house. The party doesn't have a single young leader to pitch, besides Uddhav Thackeray, as the CM candidate. The Sena chief has so far stayed off electoral politics, in keeping with his father and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's policy. Aaditya could be a good counter to a young incumbent CM Fadnavis, as well as a boost to a battery of young leaders in BJP.

On Tuesday, Aaditya confidante and secretary of Yuva Sena, Varun Sardesai, indicated a renewed power struggle between the two allied with a tweet.

"Shivsena Prez Uddhavsaheb and BJP Prez Amit ji have decided that Maha CM post will be 2.5 years each. People who weren't present for negotiation, shouldn't spoil the alliance for their personal gains," he said.

(Not) A chip off the old block

• If approved, Aaditya will be the first Thackeray to assume a political post
• In a precedent set by party founder Bal Thackeray, the family has traditionally eschewed political posts