Shiv Sena, BJP workers clash over Narayan Rane's 'slap Uddhav' remark

Scores of Shiv Sena workers, including women, carrying placards and shouting slogans against BJP leader and Union Minister Narayan Rane, assembled outside an office of the Yuva Sena (the party's youth wing), located nearby in Juhu, to protest against the Minister's controversial remark directed at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. According to news agency ANI, a clash broke out between Shiv Sena and BJP workers as Sena workers marched towards Rane's home.

Meanwhile, heavy police security was deployed outside Rane's residence in Mumbai in the wake of his remarks. BJP workers gathered outside Rane's residence on Juhu Tara Road in Santacruz (West) in the morning in support of their party leader. A posse of police personnel, including women cops, were deployed outside Rane's residence to prevent any untoward incident.

Rane, who was recently inducted into the Union cabinet, had sparked off a row over his remarks about slapping Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, for what he claimed as the latter's ignorance of the year of India's independence.

"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," Rane said during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in adjoining Raigad district on Monday.

Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey on Tuesday issued orders for the immediate arrest of Rane and a team of the city police left for Chiplun in the Konkan region, where Rane is present now, after a complaint against the Union minister over the remarks. A case was also registered against Rane in Pune, while the Shiv Sena lodged a complaint against him at a police station in Aurangabad.