Explained | How far the rivalry between Narayan Rane and Uddhav Thackeray goes back

Union Minister Narayan Rane said that he would have slapped Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for "not knowing the year of India's Independence."

In response to this the Shiv Sena has filed FIRs against Rane, meanwhile the Union Minister was even granted bail by a magistrate court on Tuesday.

Rane is one of the four ministers from Modi's newly expanded Union Cabinet, who has been asked to hold a Jan Ashirwad Yatra in various regions of the state of Maharashtra which commenced from August 16.

In a meeting at Mahad city in Raigad, Narayan Rane said, “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap.”

This prompted a response from Shiv Sena, where they filed 3 FIRs against Rane for a 'personal attack'

Read | Rane's days in Union Cabinet are numbered: Shiv Sena

However, this animosity between Rane and Thackeray goes long back.

Narayan Rane began his political career with Shiv Sena, and in 1999 became the first Maharashtra CM of the BJP-Sena led government for eight months.

In 2003, the Shiv Sena announced Uddhav Thackeray as party’s “executive president” and Rane went ahead to challenge that. However, in 2005, he was expelled from the party for "anti-party activities."

Soon after Rane moved to the Congress and even attempted to take some legislators in an attempt to split the Shiv Sena. But that did not work.

In 2017, he quit the Congress, after claiming that he was offered the Chief Minister's post.He wnt and formed his own party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksh. This party was later merged with the BJP in 2019, and Rane was elected to the Narayan Rane.

Rane has taken attacks on the Thackeray family including Uddhav's wife and son but has not attacked the family patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray.

(With inputs from agencies)