IN PICS! Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's political journey

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's celebrates his birthday today.

Uddhav Thackeray was born on 27 July 1960 as the youngest of politician Balasaheb Thackeray and his wife Meena Thackeray's three sons

He did his schooling in Balmohan Vidyamandir and studied photography for some time at Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art.

Before Uddhav Thackeray was affirmed as the successor apparent for Shiv Sena, barely anyone outside the party knew him. Within the party, it was eminent that Uddhav Thackeray did not have any attention in active politics & favored wildlife photography.

Not surprisingly though, his leadership was challenged by his cousin Raj, and former Shiv Sena CM Narayan Rane, who quit the party in 2005 and joined the Congress with a dozen MLAs, while Raj formed his own party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in 2006.

Uddhav had a late initiation in the party compared to his cousin Raj Thackeray, MNS chief, who was then seen as Balasaheb’s savvy heir apparent.

The Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), surprised everyone by parting ways with the BJP after the assembly election results came out on October 24, 2019.

After the alliance was broken in the 2014 assembly elections, Shiv Sena came back in the government with BJP a few months after the results. However, after this, the relationship between BJP and Shiv Sena did not remain the same. Despite being part of the government, Shiv Sena always criticized BJP

In 2014, the Sena went alone in the assembly polls and won 68 seats, while in the 2019 assembly polls, despite the alliance with the BJP, it could only win 56 seats.

In 1995, the Sena won 73 seats, while the BJP won 65 in the 288-member assembly. The two parties joined hands to form the first saffron government in the state, and Sena’s Manohar Joshi became the chief minister.

कोरोनाचे आव्हान

Meanwhile, just days after being sworn in as the chief minister of the state, the whole country faced Coronavirus pandemic. During this period, Uddhav Thackeray's efficient leadership to the state appealed to the people in times of crisis and received a good response from the citizens as well as various organizations