Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on late Saturday evening said Shiv Sena workers should understand that he was fighting to save the party from the clutches of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Shinde's appeal came after Sena workers loyal to party president and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray staged protests against the rebel MLAs led by him by defacing their banners, hurling stones in some places and vandalising the office of an MLA in Pune.

In a tweet in Marathi, Shinde, who is camping in Guwahati with his group of MLAs, said, "My dear Shiv Sena workers, try to understand the machinations of the MVA. I am fighting for rescuing the Shiv Sena and Sena workers from the clutches of the python of the MVA."

"I dedicate this fight to the interest of Shiv Sena workers," he added. Shinde and his supporters have said earlier that they want the Sena to pull out of the "unnatural" Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition with the Congress and NCP, and revive the alliance with BJP.