THE SNP reacted furiously after a senior LibDem MP suggested they were a "protest party" and compared them to UKIP.
The row came as the Liberals beat UKIP into second in the Eastleigh by-election.
Asked about the victory, LibDem president Tim Farron suggested that parties who had picked up protest votes in other elections had then gone on to win, not just come second.
And he said UKIP leader Nigel Farage was a "less successful version of George Galloway and Alex Salmond."
Angus Robertson, the SNP's leader at Westminster Leader MP said: "As people in Scotland count the cost of the LibDems' pact with the Tories at Westminster, Tim Farron has added insult to injury with sour claims about Scottish voters.
"The remarks show how out of touch with Scotland the LibDems are. They are suggesting that the election of an SNP majority government in a Scottish Parliament vote – not a by-election – was a repository for protest votes, in an election where their party was almost wiped out."
The LibDems saw the number of their MSPs fall to just five in the 2007 Holyrood elections.
Mr Galloway pulled off a shock by-election result last year, returning to Westminster as Respect MP for Bradford.
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