A widower, Thackeray's wife Meena and his eldest son Bindhumadhav passed away in 1996.
His nephew Raj Thackeray, once considered his political heir, broke away to form Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, competing with Shiv Sena in espousing rightwing views championing Marathi pride and exclusivism at the expense of other communities in India's richest and most industrialised state.
