Balasaheb to campaign for Sena-BJP in assembly polls

MUMBAI: In a development that could lift the sagging morale of the saffron brigade in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray has indicated that he would continue to be the star campaigner in the state assembly polls due in October. Mr Thackeray, 83, has been donning the mantle of star campaigner for the two-decade-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra.

Falling health and doctor���s advice against the hurly-burly of election campaign had sparked speculation that the octogenarian leader may not be stepping out of Matoshri, his Bandra residence, to campaign for the Sena-BJP combine. But Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut has said that Mr Thackeray would pitch in for the alliance.

In an interview with senior journalist Sudhir Gadgil on the occasion of 50 years of Marmik, a satirical magazine which Mr Thackeray used to bring out, the Sena chief himself has demonstrated his good reflexes.

Uncertainty over Mr Thackeray���s presence in the Sena���s election has prevailed since he made his last public appearance at the Sena���s Dussehra rally last year. The Sena chief had looked extremely feeble and he even announced that his health could not anymore take the rigours of active public life.

Mr Thackeray did not campaign at all for the Sena-BJP during the Lok Sabha polls. In fact, the Sena supremo has had two rounds of treatment in Lilavati Hospital recently. Against this backdrop, his desire to get back into the thick of things has come as a pleasant surprise to the Sena-BJP alliance.