Mumbai: During the Ganesh immersion in Mumbai's Dadar, a clash broke out between the two Shiv Sena factions. Both the factions accused the other of starting the scuffle on Friday night in the Prabhadevi area of Mumbai. A Supreme Court bench is currently hearing the battle between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on claim over the party.
Santosh Telavane, a local leader in the Shinde faction, claimed that the Thackeray camp workers attacked and threatened them during the immersion procession. The Thackeray faction, meanwhile, claims that a leader from the rival camp fired at their leader Mahesh Sawant.
The police are conducting an investigation and have not released an official statement yet.
Dussehra is expected to be the next flashpoint between the two factions. Both sides claim to be the "real" Shiv Sena and have sought permission to hold the party's annual Dussehra rally in Mumbai's Shivaji Park.
Mumbai's civic body has said it had received applications from the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde-led factions of the Shiv Sena to "book" the sprawling Shivaji Park for the party's Dussehra rally in October.
In June, a rebellion by Mr Shinde and 39 of 55 MLAs of the Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
After the collapse of the MVA government, Mr Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is the Deputy Chief Minister in the new government.