Rane at a news conference in Mumbai on Monday. (AFP)

Mumbai, July 25: People who call Sonia Gandhi names, beware. One of their own, who is with the other camp now, has warned of a “fitting reply”.

“I have never tolerated insults to my party chief when I was in the Shiv Sena. I will give a fitting reply to Sonia-bashing,” expelled leader Narayan Rane told a news conference, a day after Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray publicly blasted him for being true to “Italian salt”.

Seated next to him and smiling pleasantly were Rane’s new-found political friends ? chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra state Congress president Prabha Rau and Mumbai Congress chief Gurudas Kamat.

The trio had reasons to smile as the former chief minister played Pied Piper and promised that “thousands” of grassroots workers who, he claimed, represented the “real Sena” would follow him into the Congress. Rane would formally join the Congress on July 28.

Although he remained vague about the fate of the MLAs who had supported him in his fight against the Sena leadership, Rane announced the names of 22 Sena office-bearers who would enter the Congress along with him. They include two former MLAs, an ex-minister of state and former district chiefs of Nandurbar, Sindhudurg, Beed, Bhandara and Nagpur.

But Rane appears to be driving a hard bargain for himself and his supporters. While he seeks a berth in the Democratic Front cabinet, Rane also wants to ensure that his supporters get a fair deal.

The cabinet has 40 members currently and can accommodate three more.

Deshmukh tossed the ball in his party chief’s court when asked if Rane would find a place during the cabinet expansion, which is expected soon. “Everyone knows that the decision is taken by Soniaji,” he said but added that Rane’s entry would strengthen the Congress.

Asked if he would abandon the ideology of Hindutva, Rane said: “I work for the party and its ideology. I would work according to the Congress ideology. Congress ideology doesn’t say Maharashtrians should face injustice.”

Rane said he would continue wooing Sena workers at public meetings in the party’s strongholds.

Violence erupted yesterday when Rane addressed a meeting near the office of the party mouthpiece, Saamna, in the Sena stronghold of Prabhadevi. Police had to wield the baton twice to control a group of Uddhav supporters who tried to disrupt the rally.