Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday hit out at his detractors and said it was better to be dubbed as "agents" of PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had nullified Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, than being sympathetic to Yakub Memon, executed in 2015 for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

Addressing a rally at Paithan in central Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, Shinde attacked the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena by claiming it was better to be an "agent" of those people who were pursuing the dream of party founder Bal Thackeray.