Aaditya Thackeray's youth brigade eyes BMC seats

Mumbai: Partyworkers of the Yuva Sena that is led by Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray are demanding seats for themselves for the BMC elections. This comes after BJP’s youth wing gave a letter consisting of some 74 names including that of kin of ministers, MLAs and even that of Members of Parliament to its senior leaders in the party.

Of late, the youth wings in the parties have started wielding a lot of power, especially with Aaditya becoming a power centre, equivalent to his father Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena. The Yuva Sena has grown in areas like Mulund, Goregaon, Dadar, Wadala, Kalbadevi, Parel and Worli, where the young brigade have outshone the existing Sena leaders.

For example, in the western suburbs, Yuva Sena leader Amol Kirtikar is a big name. It may be mentioned here that Abhijit Adsul who was spokesperson for the Yuva Sena was elevated to the post of Vibhag pramukh. On the other hand, leaders like Ameya Ghole, the treasurer of Yuva Sena, wields a lot of power in Wadala area. Ditto with Pawan Jadhav, core committee member and son of former Mayor Shraddha Jadhav, who has a firm stronghold in Parel; Samadhan Sarvankar, son of MLA from Dadar-Mahim area Sada Sarvankar, is also heading the Yuva Brigade, a part of Yuva Sena. In south Mumbai, Prathamesh Sakpal, son of Vibhag pramukh Pandurang Sakpal, is the Yuva Sena head, while in the Mulund area, it is Raj Kulkarni, a close confidante of Aaditya, who is heading the party. Even in Thane, Yuva Sena leaders like Purvesh Sarnaik, Nitin Landge and others have become powerful.

“Most names from the Yuva Sena are vying for a ticket from the area where they are from. These people are competing with the existing leaders in the Shiv Sena. Many of them have filled the form for becoming a candidate of the party in the forthcoming polls. The names in the fore include those of Samadhan and Raj, Purvesh (whose elder brother Vihang is a corporator from Thane and father Pratap Sarnaik an MLA). There are others too. Amol had even contested the MLA elections in 2014,” said a senior leader from the party.