Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on Tuesday, April 23, took a snatching attack at his ex-party colleague Uddhav Thackeray over alleged "neech" remarks, saying "people will respond to it through the ballot box on April 26."
"Yesterday he (Uddhav Thackeray) said that Eknath Shinde is "neech". You abuse me by calling me "neech". If a farmer's son, a common labourer becomes the chief minister then you don't like it, you are unable to digest it."
Taking a dig at the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, CM further stated, "If you look at it, this is not an insult to me, it is an insult to all the farmers' sons, it is an insult to the mothers and sisters of the poor and it is an insult to the society from which I come."
I have faith that the people will respond to it through the ballot box on April 26, he said while appealing to people to vote for his candidate in the Lok Sabha polls.
Later, the CM took to X to attack the father-son duo, saying, 'baap ek number ani beta 10 number ahet' (in Marathi), which means the son is a bigger thief than his father.
"In Ubatha, 'the son is a bigger thief than his father'. Aditya Thackeray referred to me as 'neech' (despicable). He could not bear that the son of a common farmer became the chief minister. They have insulted not me, but the poor, the farmers, mothers and sisters and my community," the post read.
The state, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
The undivided NCP, part of the opposition alliance, contested 19 seats and won four in 2019 Lok Sabha election. Following the split in the Shiva Sena 2022, the Eknath Shinde faction aligned with the BJP.