Union minister Narayan Rane who was briefly arrested by the Maharashtra police for his ‘Slap CM’ remark in August shared the stage with his arch-rival chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at the inauguration of an airport at Chipi in Sidhudurg and the unease between the two translated into sharp comments, barbs aimed at each other.

As Rane listed the work done by him since he was elected as MLA from Sidhudurg for the first time in 1990, he said, “People know who works. Uddhav-ji.” Rane left Shiv Sena around 16 years ago and he exit from the party was bitter. And it was Bal Thackeray who gave Rane the responsibility of the district. “… the work for basic amenities like roads, power, education, water, and healthcare was carried out. The existing infrastructure is because of Narayan Rane. Nobody can match it,” he said.

In his speech, Rane also remembered Balasaheb a number of times and said Balasaheb did not like lying.

As Uddhav Thackeray started his speech, he countered Narayan Rane on every point in good humour as he said, “As per my knowledge, the Sindhudurg fort was built by (Shivaji) Maharaj…otherwise someone might say `I built it'”. He reiterated his father’s trait of not putting up with lies, already mentioned by Rane, and said Balasaheb used to kick out people of the party for lying.

“You (Rane) are a minister. So what if it is `micro and small’, it is still an important department and (we are sure) you will use it for the benefit of Maharashtra,” Thackeray said taking a swipe at Rane’s profile.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who was present at the inauguration event said with the new airport, the distance of 530 km between Mumbai and Chipi can now be covered in 50 minutes. There are also plans to connect Chipi with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and other major cities and 20-25 flights to Chipi will be started in the next five years, the minister said adding that Maharashtra now has 14 airports.

(With PTI inputs)