Apparently referring to his humble past when he used to drive an autorickshaw to earn living, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday took a dig at Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, saying an autorickshaw has outpaced Mercedes car. "Autorickshaw outpaced Mercedes (car)... Because this is a government of the common man," Shinde tweeted in Marathi. Shinde, whose rebellion against the Sena leadership with at least 40 MLAs led to the collapse of the Thackeray-led MVA government last week, was taunted as an "auto rickshaw driver" by some Sena leaders when he was leading the revolt.
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In his initial days, Shinde drove an auto rickshaw to earn a living. Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30 with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy, a day after Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the CM without taking the floor test. Thackeray had reached Raj Bhavan driving a Mercedes car to submit his resignation to the Governor.
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Fadnavis had earlier taken a dig at Uddhav's son Aaditya Thackeray calling him a "Mercedes baby" who cannot appreciate the struggle of 'Karsevaks' who took part in the agitation for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya in the early 1990s. A day before, the Shinde government won the trust vote with 164 MLAs voting for the motion of confidence and 99 siding with the MVA.
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