Launching a broadside at his detractors including his nephew Raj Thackeray, an aggressive Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray Saturday ruled out any "vertical or horizontal" split in the party, saying Marathis would not entertain "new temples" in the name of Sena.
"Stop worrying about whether there will be a split. Whether it will be vertical or horizontal. Worry about Maharashtra and yourselves. We are competent to defend our fort," Thackeray said in his weekly column in party mouthpiece Saamna.
"I want to tell media that whatever is in your minds is not going to happen," Thackeray said adding, "Shiv Sena is invincible and indestructible."
In an apparent reference to the rebellion by Raj, the Sena chief said, "The Marathi 'manoos' (man) and Hindus will not pay heed to someone setting up new temples in the name of Shiv Sena."
"The more you try to suppress the Shiv Sena, the more it will rise," he said adding, that the Sena is in the minds of every Marathi and Hindu person.
Taking a potshot at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, he said, "The Sena is forever young in the last 40 years. In order to attract youth, I did not have to show off as chief of cricket, kabaddi, wrestling and football associations."
"Shiv Sena has never lived off the estates of sugar and education barons," the Sena chief added.
Noting that he could have become the chief minister of Maharashtra, he said, "But I have lived my life like a sanyasi."
"When Hindutva was under attack, we stood up as hardcore Hindus and during the 1992 riots, protected our Hindu brethren from the 'green locust'," Thackeray said.