Mumbai:
A furious Shiv Sena has lashed out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan - who reportedly questioned Uddhav Thackeray's experience in running a government - and said his "mental condition is unstable like a patient in ICU."
The Congress has retaliated by saying, "The BJP-Sena alliance is in ICU."
After Mr Chavan and Mr Thackeray participated in an event organised by a TV channel here on Saturday, the Chief Minister reportedly said the Sena president lacked the experience to run a government as he wasn't part of the Sena-BJP government in 1995.
"Chavan says Uddhav didn't have any experience. What experience did he have when he became chief minister?" the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece
Saamna.
"Because he is finding it tough to get a safe constituency to contest the poll, his mental condition has become unstable like that of a patient in ICU," the Sena sneered.
"What experience did (Chavan) have when he was made the chief minister some three years ago, due to a favour by (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi? When he came here, he lacked knowledge about the sub-districts of the state and did not know the names of his party legislators in western Maharashtra," it said.
"His posting was only because of Sonia Gandhi, otherwise, all his experience was that a clerical stint at a central ministry. In terms of experience, any desk officer in the Mantralaya (state secretariat) has more experience than Chavan," the editorial said.
"Besides, all these people who boast of experience, haven't they pushed the state and country to economic disaster? We wonder why Chavan is making a laughing stock of himself when he is on the verge of demitting the Chief Minister's Office," it said.
The editorial went on to question whether Mr Chavan had the guts to ask a "loser" like Rahul Gandhi what experience he had to aspire for PM's post.
"What experience certificate did Rajiv Gandhi have when he landed from the plane cockpit onto the prime ministerial chair," the Sena asked, adding, "Chavan warmed the chief ministerial chair and it did not benefit Maharashtra."
In response, Congress leader Manish Tewari today said, "The BJP and Shiv Sena alliance is in ICU. Before coming together they are already having differences."