India, July 9 -- Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad called himself a "yoddha" (warrior) as he emphatically justified his assault of canteen staff at a hostel for MLAs in Mumbai, calling it "the Shiv Sena style".

"It was my natural reaction," said Gaikwad, from deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, "If someone does not understand Hindi, or Marathi, or English, then this is how we do it."

He claimed ready expertise in identifying old or stale food - "I can tell within a minute by just smelling it" - and blamed "rotten" dal and rice served to him for his temper.

"I ordered dal, roti and rice around 9.30, Tuesday night. That's my set dinner time. I mixed the dal and rice but the very first morsel tasted odd. I took another and that ma...