Smita Thackeray's entry into Congress will take some time: Manikrao Thakre

Shiv Sena supreme Bal Thackeray's daughter-in-law Smita Thackeray's plea to join Congress will take some time, Congress' state unit president Manikrao Thakre said here today.    Thakre was presiding over an "Introspection Meeting" of the party held here.    He said Smita Thackeray had contacted him once to join the Congress. As the party has a process to follow while inducting new people, Smitha's entry will take some more time, he added.    On the issue of Amitabh Bachchan, he said, "Ours is a secular party and as Amitabh Bachhan has stood alongside with the Gujarat government, we have kept ourselves at some distance from him."    He said that as far as the Congress was concerned, there will be no impact of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who is will float a new political party.    Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that Congress has good future in the country due to its century old ideology of secularism and thirst to serve the people of the country.    He said that the party would do well with more strength as more and more youths are joining it. "It is a good sign," he said.    Maharashtra ministers including Patangrao Kadam, Manikrao Khaple, Harshvardhan Patil were present.