Adding further he said, "I have worked a lot in my constituency. So much so that I don't need an election symbol to get elected by people,"
Shiv Sena President and Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had last month said " No one can take away the bow and arrow symbol from Shiv Sena".
Supreme Court is also hearing petitions led by Uddhav Thakeray-led faction of Shiv sena seeking a stay on the proceedings before the Election Commission on the Eknath Shinde group's claim for recognition as 'real' Shiv Sena
He has also been calling the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena "gaddar" or traitors after his coalition government with NCP and Congress collapsed in June when Eknath Shinde and MLAs associated with him left Uddhav Thakeray to join hands with the BJP and form government in Maharashtra.
On the question of betrayal, Shinde said, "Who betrayed whom? We or someone else? We just forged the natural alliance of Shiv Sena once again and this Govt is a govt of the people,"
He blamed Uddhav Thakeray for not making time for his supporters and party leaders to meet.
"Govt came to power and our party chief became CM. We all got down to work. Meanwhile, people used to come and visit me because some people (Uddhav Thackeray) had no time to meet them. Our people suffered, what was happening in the Govt was intolerable.", Shinde said
He also defended his decision to join hands with the BJP by reasoning that the party would have lost badly in the upcoming legislative elections.
"We took this decision because, in the upcoming elections, Shiv Sena would have had only that many MLAs as much as can be counted on fingers. Attempts were on to end Shiv Sena, people were being jailed and they were being asked to join their parties to save themselves," He reasoned
Shinde was speaking at a rally in Pune where he took on his former boss and now rival Uddhav Thackeray.
With inputs from ANI
