By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS): A comment by Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeting bete-noire, the Shiv Sena (UBT) President, Uddhav Thackeray has kicked up an unholy fracas, plummeting political discourse to another depth in Maharashtra, on Monday.

Speaking at a function to mark the 393rd birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Pune on Sunday, Shah slammed Thackeray for the umpteenth time on the alleged backstabbing after the 2019 Assembly elections.

"First, he fought the elections with (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's photos on posters and banners, and jointly with Devendra Fadnavis. After the elections, in the greed for power, he licked the soles of people with opposing ideology...," thundered Shah, without naming Congress-Nationalist Congress Party.

Referring to the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s decision declaring the group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the 'real' Shiv Sena, Shah said that "now they (Thackeray group) have been shown their true place".

Smarting under Shah's 'sucker-kick' remark, Sena (UBT) Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut hit back: "What is Shinde doing now... Who is he sucking up to now...? They are traitors and thieves. Deals worth over Rs 2,000 crore have taken place for grabbing the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'Bow-and-Arrow' symbol..."

As Raut apparently suffered a momentary slip of tongue, a furious Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Spokesperson Sandip Deshpande blurted out before the media: "How can he (Raut) speak such foul language... If I was around, I would have given him a tight slap..."

Shinde group's Chief Whip Bharat Gogawale chose to dismiss Raut's utterances and said whatever needs to be done will be done by the party MPs and the workers.

"Raut is clearly destroying Uddhav Thackeray's party with his statements... Our MPs in New Delhi and the workers will decide what needs to be done to rein in his mouth," said Gogawale.

Reacting strongly, a Shinde group MLA Sanjay Shirsat blandly said that "Raut has lost his mental balance" and warned that they would try to get him 'disqualified' - but did not specify further.

However, the Sena (UBT) allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Congress and Nationalist Congress Party privately termed the bickerings as "unfortunate and avoidable" but have chosen to keep mum publicly in the fresh war-of-words that erupted between the Thackeray-Shinde groups.

Rattled by the Union Home Minister's 'licking-sole' observation, Raut shot back by saying "Shah is our enemy... Some people want to capture Maharashtra and Mumbai at any cost. Our fight is not with the Shinde group but with the Bharatiya Janata Party".

For over eight months since the infamous split in Shiv Sena in June 2022, the Shinde group has been tormented by catcalls of "50 khokhe" (boxes, a slang for Rs 50 crore), "gaddaars" (traitors), "liars", "turncoats", and recently "40 thieves" who have stolen the original name-symbol, deafeningly pursuing them almost daily.

In the past, Maharashtra's warring politicians have invoked several insects, reptiles or animals to slam each other, though not exactly considered a 'kick-ass' form of public political debate.

Some of the mute creatures who figured in recent political discourse include: earthworms, 'kombdi' (hen) thief, male-buffalo, 'dukkar' (swine), snakes, scorpions, earthworms, insects, and others were freely flung to and fro to score brownie points in bytes.