His father’s habit of panning his opponents in speeches and then dining with them in private drove him to stay away from the murky world of politics, says Jaidev Thackeray in court, during inheritance hearing
As the elder son of the late Bal Thackeray, Jaidev Thackeray is now fighting for his share of the family inheritance. But when it came to inheriting his father’s true legacy — Shiv Sena — he wanted no part of it.
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Jaidev Thackeray said he did not want to follow in Balasaheb’s footsteps as a politician
Appearing in court for the second day of his testimony in the inheritance battle, Jaidev told the Bombay High Court that it was the two-faced nature of politics that convinced him not to take over the reins of the party from Balasaheb — a decision that created a rift between father and son, and ultimately marked the rise of the younger brother, Uddhav Thackeray.
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Questioned about this by Uddhav’s counsel Rohit Kapadia, Jaidev admitted that his father had always wanted him to take over, but he was not interested in politics. “Balasaheb had good relations with all his opponents; they even hugged each other and ate together. But I saw that he had to criticise these friends in public because they were his rivals. This was not acceptable to me, so I decided to stay away from politics,” Jaidev told the court.
Uddhav’s influence
It was following Jaidev’s refusal to follow in his father’s footsteps that his younger brother Uddhav’s star started to rise. Jaidev alleged that Uddhav used his growing power to cut him out of not only their father’s will but also the family ration card. “From 2003, Uddhav's influence in the family started increasing. In 2005, a person came to my home in Kalanagar, asking me to sign a document that was a request to delete my name from the family ration card. He told me ‘Saheb’ had sent him. For me, ‘Saheb’ meant Balasaheb,” said Jaidev.
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He added that after he signed the document, he called Balasaheb, who told him he hadn’t sent anyone. “Balasaheb assured me that he would look into the matter, but by then Uddhav had quickly deleted my name from the ration card. When I told Balasaheb about it, he asked me to wait for some time,” added Jaidev.
Uddhav’s counsel questioned why Jaidev had initially claimed that he found out about the ration card through newspapers, after which Jaidev clarified that he found out when he was asked to sign the document.
‘I paid for Matoshree’
Jaidev claims that he was similarly cut out of Balasaheb’s will because of Uddhav’s influence, even though he had paid for the construction of Matoshree, the family bungalow in Kalanagar. “I paid several contractors who came to supply material during the construction of Matoshree, but I don’t have a receipt to prove my claim,” he told Justice Gautam Patel.
Several questions were asked by Uddhav’s counsel about Jaidev’s stay in Matoshree, to which he made some contradictory replies. Jaidev also told the court that Matoshree was to be divided between the two brothers as per the wishes of Balasaheb and his wife, Meenatai, since the eldest brother Bindumadhav had already said he was not interested in the property and later passed away.
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