Mumbai, Jan 23 (IANS): Sending shock waves in the ruling establishment, a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena functionary on Thursday proclaimed that MNS chief Raj Thackeray will henceforth be the new "Hindu Hridaysamrat".

Shiv Sena founder, late Balasaheb Thackeray, was usually referred to as the "Hindu Hridaysamrat" (Emperor of Hindu Hearts).

Thane MNS President Avinash Jadhav's statement on Balasaheb's nephew was greeted with thunderous applause at a massive party convention at the NSE Grounds, in suburban Goregaon.

The announcement came on the day the Sena is celebrating the 94th birth anniversary of its founder-patriarch with a grand felicitation of his son and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray later in the day.

The development comes amid changed political permutations and combinations after the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress joined hands to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray, the estranged cousin of Raj Thackeray.

Hitting back, senior Sena leader Anil Parab said that only the late Balasaheb Thackeray is the 'Hindu Hridaysamrat' and nobody else can claim to replace him, but declined to comment if his nephew Raj Thackeray was attempting to 'hijack' the title.

The MNS is now quietly cosying up to the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and attempting to fill up the "Hindutva" vacuum created after the Shiv Sena split from the BJP.