Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray moves out of Matoshree for three days

Shiv Sena's newly elected MLAs at Matoshree in 2019 where Uddhav Thackeray had called a meeting, being greeted by his wife, Rashmi Thackeray. File pic

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray along with his family members, finally spent three nights at Varsha - the official residence of the CM at Malabar Hill in Mumbai.

According to a party functionary, the CM and his family members spent Saturday (November 28), Sunday (November 29) and Monday night (November 30) at Varsha. "For the first time Thackeray and his family stayed overnight in the official residence of the CM," a senior Sena leader told mid-day. The Varsha bungalow is spread over nearly 12,000 square feet and has a hall, meeting area, pantry besides other amenities and an office for the CM.

Last year Thackeray Sr. took over as the CM of Maharashtra, but instead of shifting to the official CM's bungalow in south Mumbai, Thackeray continued to reside at Matoshree his residence at Kalanagar in Bandra. The Thackeray clan residence is guarded like a fortress and has been a major power centre in Mumbai. In fact, in 1995 when Shiv Sena-BJP alliance came to power and Sena leader Manohar Joshi took over as the CM, everything was controlled from Matoshree.

In November 2019, Thackeray took oath as the CM and since then has been shunting between his home in Bandra and official residence Varsha. The official bungalow was used by the CM only as an office and for meetings. Earlier in February, during his felicitation programme held at his alma mater-Balmohan Vidyamandir -Thackeray Sr. mentioned that he prefers Matoshree to the CM's official residence.

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However on Saturday for the first time after being sworn in as chief minister, Thackeray along with his family members moved into Varsha. The official bungalow underwent minor renovation and repainting, this despite the earlier BJP led government having spent nearly R5 crore on this.

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