Aditya Thackeray showers praises on Shiv Sainiks for senate poll win

The Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS), the students’ wing of the Shiv Sena, has clinched victory in the Mumbai University senate elections. It is a clear-cut win for the party as it bagged five out of the 10 senate seats and was leading in other four.    

Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray for whom the elections have been considered as a political debut, is ecstatic. “It is not my victory; it’s my family’s victory. The students’ union, the workers’ union, the Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti and each of the sainiks worked for this for the past six months,” he said.  

The young leader was more than happy to give all the credit to his party men. “I am just a president, the real winners are the Shiv sainiks and the voters, who showed their trust in us. My immediate aim will be to fullfil all the promises we have made in the election manifesto,” added Aditya.

The Sena contested this election against the combine of Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS), Nitesh Rane-led Swabhiman Sangathana and the Congress affiliated Bombay Graduate Forum (BGF).

This is for the first time in the senate elections that a single party has won more than four seats.

Sena affiliated organisations — Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, their consumer protection cell and Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti were all involved in the election campaign. The party’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray was personally monitoring the entire process by visiting various shakhas of the party and its affiliated organisations. “It happened as we wanted it to be. Our strategy was to win maximum seats and we managed to do so,” said Dinesh Bobhate, general secretary, BVS.

Swabhiman Sangathana president Nitesh Rane, however, said that it was the first attempt by both Swabhiman and MNVS and they have not lost anything. “We made a right move to go with MNVS and we gained from it.”  

The MNVS said that even a single seat in the first attempt is a huge thing for them. “We had registered less number of voters, but in spite of that we are winning one seat. We feel that one seat will change into many next time,” said Sandeep Deshpande, vice-president, MNVS.