Uddhav’s victory celebrations to include door-to-door visits by Aaditya and newly elected MPs to societies in Gujarati dominated areas of the city.Just weeks after a Saamna editorial berated Gujaratis for siding with Narendra Modi and using Maharashtra only for making their millions, the Shiv Sena has now decided to launch a door-to-door campaign to show its gratitude to the community in the light of the party’s impressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls.The party’s internal assessment has revealed that Gujaratis voted in large numbers for Sena candidates in the recent parliamentary polls. Also, there is the realisation that the Gujarati community’s votes will be important for the Sena’s prospects in the assembly elections due for later this year.During the coming week, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray and the Sena’s newly elected MPs will visit societies in Gujarati- dominated areas to apologise for the Saamna editorial and thank the community for standing by the Sena in the Lok Sabha polls. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will also be taking out a grand victory procession.Mumbai Mirror reported on May 6 that the Thackerays had clipped the wings of Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut for the controversial edit, ‘Kaun Shaamil Honar’, which ran on May 1. Sena CEO Uddhav Thackeray had appointed two party leaders, Subhash Desai and Leeladhar Dake, to henceforth supervise Raut’s editorial musings in the paper. Desai and Dake were instructed to run everything past Matoshree.The controversial edit, which questioned the Gujaratis’ commitment to participating in Maharashtra Day celebrations, did not have an OK from Matoshree, sources said. The subsequent backlash from NaMo supporters took the Thackerays by surprise. Uddhav tried making peace, announcing, “The unity of Marathi and Gujarati speakers will not break… some people are sowing seeds of hatred in this sweet relationship.”However, stunned Gujaratis questioned why they were being dragged into regional politics. The Sena then clearly distanced itself from the edit, with Aaditya saying, “We seek or make no difference between us and the Gujarati community of Mumbai. This is our view and we don’t endorse the words of the editorial of May 1.”As a further offer of truce, action was taken against Raut. The action was also a sign of the recent rapprochement between Uddhav and Narendra Modi. “On paper, he (Raut) still remains the executive editor, but the autonomy that he enjoyed has been curtailed,” said a top Sena source.The Thackerays have now decided that clipping Raut’s wings is not enough, especially with the assembly elections looming later this year. “Gujaratis form a massive 18 per cent of the voters during the assembly polls,” a political observer said earlier. “The Sena is worried that it will be left with nothing if the Gujaratis go with the BJP, and the Marathi voters prefer Raj Thackeray’s MNS. The Muslims and north Indians are likely to go with the Congress or the Samajwadi Party.” Hence, the door-to-door campaign to show gratitude has been planned.The Shiv Sena won three seats in Mumbai in the LS polls, including South Mumbai and Mumbai North-West, which have a large number of Gujaratis.Senior Sena sources said that soon after Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, the saffron party would undertake a series of victory processions in which top party leaders -- including Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray -- would visit housing societies door-to-door to thank Gujaratis.“ We will thank all the communities. An unnecessary controversy was created sometime back, but all that has been sorted out. The discontent among the Gujarati community has been soothed, especially by the victory. A lot of Gujaratis have joined the Shiv Sena in the celebrations. The party is getting a lot of invitations to celebrate and the party leadership will soon respond to those requests,” said a top Sena leader.The Sena reportedly got votes in Gujarati-dominated areas like Malabar Hill, Kalbadevi, Matunga, Sion, Wadala, Goregaon and other areas in the western suburbs. This ensured that despite the presence of MNS candidates, Sena candidates won by comfortable margins.“Not just Gujaratis, but all communities voted for the Shiv Sena-BJP combine to decimate the Congress-NCP alliance. The Sena is now seen as an inclusive party. It played a key role in our candidate Arivnd Sawant’s victory. The party will also write a general thank-you note to the people of Mumbai, which will include all communities. The letter will mention Marwaris and Punjabis too, since all of them voted for the party,” the leader said.Sena leaders said the party had moved ahead of the anti-Gujarati issue and were now looking at the state assembly elections. They added that the Marathi manoos, the party’s core voter, would be thanked too. “We are already holding celebrations in areas like Lalbaug, Parel and Dadar. The party will make sure that the Maharashtrian voters are given their due. The Sena will always fight for them,” said another Sena leader.Aaditya had personally monitored the campaign in South and South Central Mumbai. The party had reached out to various communities, including Parsis. Aaditya held meets in Dadar-Parsi colony, which had never been Sena’s focus. Similar meetings were held in Malabar Hill and Colaba.