The Sena mouthpiece `Saamna' of which Thackeray is the editor, today reported that the party supremo who had gone into temporary political retreat in March this year expressing dissatisfaction with the functioning of some state ministers, would formally end it on Thursday on the auspicious occasion of `Guru Purnima'.

It has quoted unnamed senior party leaders as stating that Bal Thackeray was likely to go in for a thorough overhauling of the organisation. He would act as a watchdog of the public interest and take steps for the welfare of the people in the state, the report has stated.

It has noted that when Thackeray announced his temporary withdrawal from politics, several Sena leaders and workers had expressed their anguish, but he had stuck to his stand.

In a two-part interview to `Saamna'after the debacle suffered by the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the last Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena chief had publicly criticised the functioning of the chief minister Manohar Joshi and some unnamed cabinet ministers. He had then declared that he was withdrawing from politics for at least three months. The decision was also believed to have been influenced by his then indifferent health condition. Meanwhile, chief minister Manohar Joshi has expressed happiness over the Sena chief's decision to return to active politics.

Joshi told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting here on Wednesday that he called up Thackeray in the morning and thanked him for his decision. "We are committed to fulfil the aspirations of Thackeray," the chief minister said.