Book chronicling Shiv Sena to be released on Jan 23

Mumbai, Jan 9 (UNI) ''Shiv Sena-kal, aaj, udya (past,present, future)'', a book penned by former Lok Sabha Speaker and senior party leader Manohar Joshi will be released by the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on the occasion of his birthday on January 23.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Joshi said the book will be released by Mr Thackeray at his residence 'Matoshree' on his birthday and the formal function will be held the next day at Ravindra Natya Mandir, in central Mumbai in the presence of party executive president Uddhav Thackeray, historian Babasaheb Purandare, BJP national general secretary Gopinath Munde, literateur Dr Ram Shevalkar, legendary theatre personality Prabhakar Panshikar, and retired justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari.

Mr Joshi said he was inspired to write the book on his party when after the exit of some leaders nearly two years ago, it was largely said that Shiv Sena has no future. ''Nothing happens to the party if some people quit. The book is an unbiased analysis. I was inspired by Pattabi Seetaramaiya's book on the Congress party,'' he added.

He said about 20 prominent personalities from all walks of life like melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, BJP leaders Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, industrialist Rahul Bajaj, theatre and film personalities Ramesh Deo and Prabhakar Panshikar have written their views on the future of Shiv Sena in the book.

Mr Joshi also said he foresaw no danger to the party.

''Whatever dangers were there, have been successfully tackled by Uddhav Thackeray,'' he maintained.

The sena leader said Shiv Sena was born as a movement of the Marathi speaking people in Mumbai under unique circumstances. After the Sanyukta Maharashtra agitation, Shiv Sena was the largest political process to have taken place. As the people's support to the leadership of Bal Thackeray grew, the party was benefitted and spread its wings across Maharashtra.

''It is difficult for a political leader to be unbiased about his own party, but I have tried my best,'' he added.

He said he has used his own experiences and views of prominent personalities and media while compiling the 1000-page book. He said the book will be priced at Rs 1000.

Party leader Subhash Desai who is the publisher of the book said it will benefit researchers, students of political science and also political workers.

Mr Joshi said his next book will be 'Rs 421 crore cha kohinoor'.

He did not give details of the content of the book. Kohinoor is the name of Mr Joshi's business empire. Mr Joshi has written books like Clean Mumbai, Green Mumbai when he was the mayor of the city and two volumes of Speaker's dairy when he was the Lok Sabha speaker.

To a question on where he saw the future of Shiv Sena, Mr Joshi said the party had a bright future.

''Considering the poor governance of the Congress-NCP in the state, our path to gain power again is smooth,'' he said.

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