For India to be Hindu Rashtra, Mohan Bhagwat should become President: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said in order to transform India into a "Hindu Rashtra", RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat should become the next President.

Speaking to reporters at Aurangabad, he said, "For the first time, we (BJP-led NDA) have received such a strong political mandate. The formation of a Hindu Rashtra is the primary objective and hence, Bhagwat should contest the presidential election."

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP in Maharashtra as well as at the Centre, had proposed Bhagwat's name as the National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the country's top constitutional post earlier too, but the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief had said he was not interested in contesting the presidential poll.

Thackeray had said in April, that he had suggested RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat's name for the post of President of India.

With President Pranab Mukherjee's term drawing to a close, there were reports that the Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief was one of the contenders and Shiv Sena, through its mouthpiece Saamna, also threw its weight behind Bhagwat.

With inputs from ANI.