'Don't steal, have guts to form your own party,' Raut tells CM Shinde, Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday attacked Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar over the split in the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party and accused them of 'stealing parties'.

The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 after a rebellion by Shinde, while the NCP got divided after Ajit Pawar joined the state government along with eight MLAs in July last year.

"Some are stealing their uncle's party, and some are stealing somebody else's party. Have the guts to form your own party and take us on," he said in a swipe at Pawar, whose uncle Sharad Pawar founded the NCP, and Shinde, whose Sena was started by Uddhav Thackeray's father late Bal Thackeray.

Hitting back, CM Shinde said, "We are taking forward Balasaheb's party. Those who gave up his ideology for power should not speak about us." Shinde routinely accuses Thackeray of abandoning Hindutva to join hands with the Congress and NCP to become chief minister in 2019.