Shiv Sena MP Shambhuraj Desai on Tuesday hit out at Lok Sabha member Vinayak Raut of Uddhav Thackeray's camp for claiming that 22 MLAs and nine MPs of the Eknath Shinde faction are in touch with them, asking if he can foresee the future and knows ‘face-reading’. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut had claimed unrest in Shinde's Shiv Sena and that many lawmakers wished to leave the party because of a lack of development works in their constituencies.

“Can Vinayak Raut see the future? Does he know face-reading? He says anything. There is no fact to what he says. We are all satisfied. Under the leadership of CM Eknath Shinde, we are working well. Vinayak Raut keeps saying things like this, we don't pay attention to him,” Desai, a minister in the Maharashtra government, said.

Raut had also claimed that Desai had conveyed a message to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray that the legislators of the Shinde faction had been feeling suffocated.

Desai threatened Raut with legal action if he doesn't withdraw his statement.

“Vinayak Raut has made similar statements about me as well. The day before, I gave him two-day time. I have spoken with my legal advisor. If he doesn't withdraw his statement against me, he should prepare himself for legal action,” Desai told ANI.

Shiv Sena (UBT), in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, repeated Raut's claim and said 22 MLAs and nine MPs from rival Shiv Sena were feeling suffocated due to "step-motherly treatment" by the BJP and could quit the group. Latching on to Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar's remark that his party was getting step-motherly treatment, Saamana dubbed the Shinde group MLAs and MPs as “hens and cocks” imprisoned in the BJP coop and that it cannot be said when they could be slaughtered.

Kirtikar, the Lok Sabha member from Mumbai, on Friday, said, “We are part of the NDA…So our work should be carried out accordingly, and (NDA) constituents should get a (suitable) status. We think we are being given step-motherly treatment.”