Aditya Thackeray on statewide tour

In what is politically significant, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray has embarked on a 4,000 km tour ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections.

Aditya, the president of Yuva Sena, is likely to contest the September-October Assembly polls from Mumbai.

A section of party workers have already started projecting the 29-year-old Sena leader as the next chief minister of Maharashtra.

Aditya is seen accompanying his father to important meetings with BJP leaders including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"I will be contesting elections if the party wants it," he told reporters when he was travelling by road during his tour.

"For me, this is not a tour to seek votes. For me this is a pilgrimage. Over the years I have learnt how to find solutions from my father (Uddhav Thackeray) and grandfather (late Bal Thackeray)," he said.

The Jan Aashirward Yatra, that will be in phases and last around a month, is a mass contact programme to reach out to people and understand their needs, aspirations and expectations.

Adithya is travelling in a modified van.

The first phase of the tour will take him to parts of north Maharashtra like Jalgaon, Nashik, Nandurbar, Dhule, and other districts where he will prepare the groundwork to help Sena candidates secure big wins in the Assembly polls.

Aditya is meeting labourers, farmers, tribal people, women, youth, local business communities, party activists and supporters.

The next phases will see the Shiv Sena’s Young Turk embark on a tour of Western Maharashtra's Konkan, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

He is accompanied by senior leaders including ministers Ramdas Kadam, Eknath Shinde, Suresh Jain, Sanjay Raut.

Other leaders will join him as the tour progresses.