A month after being ousted as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and now trying to hold on to the Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray suffered a political setback today, albeit with riders. His nephew Nihar Thackeray - not much of a political player until now - met and pledged support to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the rebel Sena leader who claims the party founded by Bal Thackeray, Uddhava Thackeray's father.
Nihar Thackeray's father Bindumadhav Thackeray, who died in a road accident in 1996, was the eldest of Bal Thackeray's three sons; the other two are Jaidev Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray. Politically – and to some extent personally – the branches of the Thackeray family were not particularly close. For some time after he died in 2012, there was controversy over Bal Thackeray's will as well.
Bindumadhav Thackeray was not active in politics - he was a film producer - and his son's meeting with Eknath Shinde is now seen as only a token step to claim Bal Thackeray's legacy. Lawyer Nihar Thackeray married BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil's daughter Ankita Patil last December. Harshvardhan Patil is a former Congress leader who was a minister for several years.
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