The Shiv Sena's newly appointed deputy leader Anita Birje on Monday asked leaders from the rival Eknath Shinde group to not play with the sentiments of Shiv Sainiks. Birje was talking to the media after paying respects to Sena stalwart the late Anand Dighe at Anand Ashram in Maharashtra's Thane city, where hundreds of Shiv Sainiks had gathered to show support.

Birje, who was a close associate of the late Dighe and headed the Sena's women's wing, was on Sunday appointed as the deputy leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, while Anand Dighe's nephew Kedar was appointed as the party's Thane district unit chief.