After Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, time for their sons to battle it out?

Amit Thackeray was recently inducted into full-time politics by his father and MNS chief Raj Thackeray on January 23 at the party’s conclave.

Maharashtra could soon witness a tussle between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit and chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya. For, Amit has been given charge of urban development and tourism in Raj’s shadow cabinet formed to point out flaws in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Aaditya is the tourism minister of the state and has been a fierce proponent to make Mumbai a major tourism destination. In the recent budget, his brainchild, an International Tourist Complex on 14-acre Worli Dairy Complex, was allotted a staggering Rs 1,000 crore.

Located in Aaditya’s constituency, the project will also include a world-class aquarium.

The aim of forming a shadow cabinet is to expose the shortcomings of the various ministries in the government. Amit was recently inducted into full-time politics by Raj Thackeray on January 23, in MNS’s conclave. The urban development department is headed by Eknath Shinde.

MNS leader Nitin Sardesai defended the induction of Amit. “There is no rivalry between the two,” said Sardesai. When quizzed whether Amit asked for this ministry in the shadow cabinet, he said, “These appointments were made by Rajsaheb and no one asked for any ministry.”

Political analyst Hemant Desai said Amit was given portfolios after a lot of thought.

“Aaditya has worked hard and made his mark in Maharashtra politics, while Amit is still is newbie. This portfolio will provide Amit a good platform to criticise Aaditya and this will become headlines,” said Desai, adding other portfolios like UD and Marathi language are also crucial and will help Amit.