Bal Thackeray's Sena family through generations
Pradnya, along with her five siblings would accompany her father at sabhas, as a young adult. She was then married to Pradeep Sawant, a Sainik from Andheri and a member of the Bhartiya Kamgar Sena (trade union). “I was denied a ticket to contest corporator elections thrice in 1990, 95 and 2005 because the ward is pre-dominantly Muslim and the party wanted to field a Muslim candidate. I still kept my loyalty intact to the Sena despite being offered a ticket by the Congress in 1995. Being a Sainik is about working for the society, not about building your political career,” said Pradeep.
Pradeep was close to Raj Thackeray but decided against moving to the MNS after Raj quit Sena in 2005. “Till Balasaheb is with Sena, I will be a Sainik,” he said. One of Pradnya’s four sisters, along with her husband, however did move to the MNS and that is a cause of sadness for the family.
Pradnya became the shaakha pramukh in 2010 and has been working for issues of water-supply and sanitation in the area. “We carry out regular follow ups with the BMC about small works. Apart from that I hold career counseling sessions. We also visited the local police station asking them to beef up security due to the recent spate of attacks on senior citizens,” she said.
When asked
