New Delhi: Smita Thackeray, the daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray is all set to join the Congress on Friday. Smita has been in touch with senior Congress leaders.
Smita was married to Bal Thackeray's eldest son Jaidev and is now separated from him.
The 48-year-old Thacekray bahu is said to be enamoured by the leadership qualities of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, and says both of them are doing a great job of leading the country.
She was a force to reckon with when the BJP-Sena combine was in power during the mid 1990's but then was margnalised within the Sena with the growth of Uddhav Thackeray. Smita is also a Hindii film producer and an active social worker.
Smita was a regular in Mumbai's page 3 and film circles.
Earlier, expressing her admiration for both Sonia and Rahul as well as the Congress ideology, Smita said she had plans to call on them and join the national ruling party soon.
Besides being deprived of any personal progress and getting marginalised in the Shiv Sena, Smita said that the party is being "unfair to Maharashtrians" with its divisive and parochial politics. She also frowned upon attacks on fellow Indians in the name of language and regionalism.
Smita, who loves to dabble with Bollywood and has produced a couple of Hindi films including "Haseena Maan Jayegi", had grown into a power centre during the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in Maharashtra 1995-99.
She continued to live in Matoshree with the Thackeray family though her husband had left the household several years ago.
However, a few years ago, she moved into a separate bungalow in Juhu as it kept her close to the hub of Bollywood.
Her son Rahul, who has learnt the craft of filmmaking from abroad, is on the verge of making his first film in Marathi.
Smita’s joining of the Congress will be the second big defection from the Shiv Sena since Bal Thackeray's nephew, Raj Thackeray, left the party nearly three years ago to launch the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
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