Union Minister Narayan Rane on Sunday called his brief arrest by Maharashtra police "an act of revenge" by Shiv Sena.
Speaking to ANI, the Union Minister also slammed Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamana for its editorial against him and called it a "handbill".
"Saamana is not a paper, it is a handbill. That paper has no quality, and its editors are not dignified. They are not thoughtful editors," said Rane when asked about an editorial where Shiv Sena called him "a balloon with a hole" and a "croaking frog".
Taking about his brief arrest, the Minister said, "the incident that took place in Sangameshwar was done with revenge." He added that after his arrest, his "Jan Ashirwad Yatra" received much more support of the general public.
Shiv Sena on Wednesday slammed Union Minister Narayan Rane calling him a "croaking frog" for his alleged "derogatory remarks" against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The editorial of Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamana also compared Rane with a "balloon with holes", which the party said, "no matter how much air is filled in this balloon (by BJP), it will never go up." Rane, who was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged derogatory statement against Thackeray was granted bail a few hours later by the local court in Mahad of Raigarh district.
Rane on Monday accused Thackeray of ignorance about the year of India's independence at an event and said "I would have given (him) a tight slap." The Union Minister was arrested in Ratnagiri district after several FIRs were registered against him at many places including Nashik and Pune, based on the complaints filed by Shiv Sena leaders for his remarks against Thackeray.
