03 June,2011 07:12 AM IST | | A Correspondent
Sainiks held for trying to burn Dy CM's effigy in response to Saamna burning
Theu00a0police had to resort to swift action after Shiv Sena activists tried to burn an effigy of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the city. Miffed at this, Neelam Gorhe, state Shiv Sena spokesperson, asked why action was not taken on leaders of the Pawar's party NCP when they burnt copies of Saamna, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece. "Why no one from the NCP has been detained?" Gorhe said.
Action and reaction: The police lathi-charged Shiv Sena activists on
Laxmi Road yesterday. Pic/Jignesh Mistry
She demanded cases be filed against NCP city president Vandana Chavan, deputy president Ankush Kakade and others like Datta Dhankawade, Kaka Chavan and Appa Renuse. There was tension at Belbaug Chowk when workers from the Shiv Sena and the NCP got aggressive over the burning of Saamna. The Sainiks wanted to respond by burning the effigy of Pawar.
As the situation threatened to spiral out of control, the police lathi-charged and detained 16 Sainiks for breaking the peace and obstructing the police from doing their duty.
Theyu00a0 were booked for rioting, said ACP Bharatbhushan Sharma. Gorhe also criticised the police for using "third-degree" treatment in the police stations.
Tit for tat
After Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in a public speech demanded to know what Balasaheb Thackeray had done for the common public, Saamna published an article condemning Ajit Pawar's statement. In response, an NCP meeting yesterday ended with some activists burning copies of the Saamna. This gave rise to a slogan war between Shiv Sena and NCP activists, and the police bandobast at Tilak Chowk was beefed up.
Senior police officers tried to maintain calm and advised the workers of political parties against hurling slogans at each other, but the Shiv Sena activists refused to back down. According to the police, the NCP had taken prior permission to convene a public meeting, unlike the Shiv Sena activists, who launched an impromptu protest against the NCP workers. Later, NCP's Ankush Kakade refuted Gorhe's charge that the police were favouring the NCP.
