A war of words erupted between Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Ajit Pawar with both leaders attacking each other indirectly amid a spitting row. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, NCP, and Congress are constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) preparing to contest the 2024 elections in alliance.
The trigger was Raut spitting on the ground in front of cameras during a press conference on Friday when reporters sought his reaction to Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde's jibe targetting Uddhav Thackeray. Under flak, Raut claimed spitting was accidental and not intentional as he was having a problem with his teeth. Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar said such a spitting act is not Maharashtra's culture and one should be careful while speaking.
Hitting back, Raut said, Spitting is better than urinating, apparently alluding to Ajit Pawar's controversial remarks he had made in 2013 when he was deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Show me where I spit. It's their thinking, their mindset. They think that people spit on them and it's true. I told you yesterday that I had some problem with my teeth and it resulted in the act. My tongue came under my teeth when the name of the person who cheated Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, and Balasaheb Thackeray was mentioned and I spit. I didn't spit when the name of any politician was taken but I did so when the names of traitors were taken, Raut said.
He claimed when (late Hindutva ideologue) V D Savarkar was produced in a court regarding a case, he had spit on seeing the person (traitor) who had spilled beans about him. Spitting on traitors is the Hindu culture. It is Hindutva, not a crime, he added. Those who suffer know the pain. We are suffering and despite that, we are standing on the ground. I am still with my party. I do not think of aligning with parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to avoid problems, he added.