Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, during his lifetime, never concealed his fondness for his estranged nephew Raj. Though Raj severed political ties with his uncle, and went on to start his own party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, it did not affect their personal relationship.
Thackeray, who fondly called Raj Fatya, had also penned down his affection for his nephew in a book on the time he had spent in jail.
The Sena supremo recalled the time when his entire family had come to meet him in jail A jubilated Thackeray instantly picked up Raj after seeing him.
Excerpts from the book: “In order to stop the thoughts running through my mind, we three (Manohar Joshi, Dattaji Salvi and Thackeray) played rammy (game of cards). It was close to 10 pm. Our warden Baburao came and said, ‘Saheb, Chowdhary saheb has asked you to get ready. Some pipewala has come to meet you. He looks just like you,” Mr Joshi said. “Shrimant might have come. Chowdhary came. I left. I saw all the family members sitting in a queue. I picked up Fatya (Shrikant’s son nickname), but he had forgotten me. Fatya, who used to get crazy on hearing my voice, had now distanced himself from me. I felt bad. But then I knew that the affection would return. I later held Dinga and Manu closer.