Viruses that change colour and appearance often are growing in Maharashtra, minister and state NCP chief Jayant Patil said on Tuesday as he hit back at MNS president Raj Thackeray who held a rally earlier in the evening in Thane near Mumbai.
Incidentally, in his Thane rally, Mr Thackeray had indulged in word play on Mr Patil's name and had called him 'jant', Marathi for germs.
Taking to Twitter, Mr Patil said Mr Thackeray supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but opposed the BJP leader in the 2019 general election, and was now back to supporting the PM.
"Enjoys legacy of Prabodhankar Thackeray, but follows ideology of Nathuram Godse; is nephew of Balasaheb Thackeray, but has ties with people who finished ideology of Balasaheb. The viruses which often change colour and appearances are growing in Maharashtra," Mr Patil tweeted in Marathi.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase hit out at Mr Thackeray for accusing the party of encouraging casteism in the state.
"Doesn't Thackeray know about works carried out by (NCP chief Sharad) Pawar saheb like implementation of Mandal Commission, renaming Marathwada University as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar University and ensuring separate budget for backward class and adivasis (tribals) in the state," Mr Tapase asked.
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