Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has been nominated to the National Integration Council (NIC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Shiv Sena, which has 11 members in the Lok Sabha and four in the Rajya Sabha, made the entry into the prestigious panel for the first time.
Shiv Sena MP Bharatkumar Rauth, a few weeks ago, drew the Prime Minister’s attention to the fact that the organisation had been left out of the NIC. He contended that if smaller parties, whose strength in the Lok Sabha is two to four, got representation to the panel, then why not the Shiv Sena.
Mr Raut and the Shiv Sena leader in the Rajya Sabha Manohar Joshi on Friday thanked the PM.
The Shiv Sena, which had led a coalition government in Maharashtra during 1995-99, has been a major Opposition party in the state legislature for the last 10 years.
Meanwhile, in an order dated June 3, the 41-year-old son of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was included in the reconstituted NIC in the category “Leaders of Regional Political Parties”.
The NIC had been reconstituted on April 5 bringing in new faces, including Union ministers A.K. Antony, Mamata Banerjee, Veerappa Moily and Kapil Sibal.
The National Integration Council, which came into existence in 1961, was formed to find ways and means to combat communalism, casteism, regionalism, linguism and to formulate definite conclusions to give a lead to the country.