Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Thackeray was the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra from November 28, 2019, to June 29, 2022. He is the son of Bal Thackeray, the late founder of Shiv Sena. He is currently the President of Shiv Sena. In the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, comprising Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction), faced a significant defeat. The alliance secured only 46 out of the 288 seats in the assembly, marking a major setback for the coalition.

Uddhav Thackeray was born into the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) community to Balasaheb and Mina Thackeray on July 27, 1960. He completed his schooling at Balmohan Vidyamandir and graduated in Fine Arts from the Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art, Mumbai. He has authored books named Maharashtra Desh and Pahava Vitthal.

Thackeray began his political career as the campaign manager for Shiv Sena during the 2002 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. In 2003, Balasaheb Thackeray appointed him as the working president of Shiv Sena. In 2006, he took over as Editor-in-Chief of Saamana, the party's Marathi-language mouthpiece. The same year Shiv Sena faced a major split when his cousin, Raj Thackeray, left the party to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). After his father’s death in 2012, he was formally elected as the party president in 2013. In 2014, after the state assembly elections, Shiv Sena joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra. However, Shiv Sena and BJP got into disagreements over power-sharing which began to strain their relationship.

In the 2019 Assembly election, the party broke the alliance with the BJP due to differences over the chief ministerial position. Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena won 56 seats and formed a post-poll alliance with the Congress, which secured 44 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party, which secured 54 seats. He went on to form a new coalition government, known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). On November 28, 2019, he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

BOOM has debunked misinformation around Thackeray. In June 2022, Uddhav Thackeray faced a political crisis where senior Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, along with 37 party MLAs, went against his leadership. A group of rebels declared Shinde as their leader and started operating separately from Thackeray's authority. The Shiv Sena filed a petition asking for the disqualification of 16 MLAs from the camp of Shinde; however, the way of functioning from the Deputy Speaker was under challenge. Meanwhile, a no-confidence motion against the Deputy Speaker was rejected, and Shinde, along with BJP leaders, planned to form a new coalition. The Governor directed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to prove its majority by June 30. On June 29, 2022 hours before the floor test, Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Chief Minister, citing his respect for democratic processes and avoiding further political instability.

After Thackeray's resignation, Eknath Shinde, backed by the BJP, went on to form the new government. Shinde took oath as Chief Minister on June 30, 2022, with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as his Deputy Chief Minister, marking the end of the MVA government.

BOOM has debunked misinformation around Thackeray. BOOM fact-checked a viral video claiming that Uddhav Thackeray, leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), recently called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi "nalayak" (useless) and said he should be beaten with shoes.

BOOM found that the claim is false. The video is from 2019, long before Thackeray and Gandhi became allies under the INDIA bloc. The video shows Thackeray criticizing Gandhi for insulting Hindutva leader and freedom fighter VD Savarkar at the launch of the book Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past by Vikram Sampath in September 2019.