Just a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sanjay Raut has claimed vindication in his signature poetic style.

After weeks of hectic parleys and a spanner by Ajit Pawar with his 80-hour coup that ultimately chipped away at the differences between the ‘Maha Aghadi’ alliance partners, Shiv Sena leader Raut treated his Twitter followers to a couplet with a chess reference.

“Hum shatranj mein kuch aisa kamal kartey hai, ki bas paidal hi raja ko maat kartey hai (Like it can happen in the game of chess, we move in a way that even our pawn can defeat the King),” the senior Sena leader tweeted on Friday.

Raut stood exonerated after being accused of “falsely” claiming that Maharashtra’s next chief minister will be from Maharashtra ever since Maharashtra Assembly elections results were announced on October 24.

Shiv Sena walked out its 30-year coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the issue and forged an alliance with NCP and Congress despite the latter dragging its feet for weeks.

After prolonging the discussions for almost a month, the Congress and NCP finally joined hands with Shiv Sena when Ajit Pawar extended the support to BJP and Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as CM. NCP chief Ajit Pawar claimed that

Ending a month-long political drama, Sena chief Thackeray finally took an oath as Maharashtra CM in Mumbai on Thursday. Raut was the key negotiator between Shiv Sena, the NCP and Congress during the discussions.

BJP and Shiv Sena together bagged 161 seats and could comfortably form the government but had a fall out over the issue of sharing power in Chief Minister’s office. NCP had 54 MLAs and Congress bagged 44 seats in the 288-seater Maharashtra Assembly. The results of Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections were declared on October 24.