Former chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has accused the breakaway group of hatching a conspiracy to topple his government while he was in a hospital. He said CM Eknath Shinde and his faction were trying to usurp the legacy of his father and Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray for seeking votes. He asked the rebels to use their own parents to earn a public mandate in the elections.

Thackeray said this in a marathon interview in the party’s mouthpiece daily Saamna on Tuesday. The first part of the interview with executive editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had many statements Thackeray has been making ever since the rebellion broke out and caused his government’s exit last month, in collaboration with the BJP, which he accused of making efforts to eliminate the Sena.