Subramanian Swamy demands special commemorative stamp on Bal Thackeray

Mumbai, Jul 6: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has said he has written to the Centre asking for a special commemorative stamp be released in honour of late Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

"I have written to the Government today asking for a special postage stamp in honour of Balasaheb Thakre (Bal Thackeray)," he tweeted yesterday. Swamy's demand comes at a time when the Sena is celebrating golden jubilee year of its foundation.

The move by Swamy, who merged his Janata Party with BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections last year, is being seen as an attempt to revive his more than three-decade-old ties with Shiv Sena, which is the junior partner in the Fadnavis Government in Maharashtra. Soon after the October 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Swamy had tried to persuade the estranged ally Sena to join the BJP Government which was initially in a minority.

Swamy had met Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and stressed on the need for the Hindutva parties to work together. The 75-year-old former Union Minister twice represented the Mumbai North-East constituency in Lok Sabha (1977 & 1980) on Janata Party ticket.

Meanwhile, Sena MP Sanjay Raut yesterday reiterated the party's demand for naming the Mumbai Coastal Road project after Bal Thackeray.

Senior Sena leader and PWD Minister Eknath Shinde has supported the demand, saying the name of late Sena chief is synonymous with the modern history of the state.

PTI