SOLAPUR/MUMBAI: Tension prevailed in Akkalkot town of Solapur district, after Bhimanna Kore a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activist was shot and hacked to death while campaigning for BJP candidate Sidhram Patil for the coming Maharashtra Assembly polls at Shegao village.
The police registered a case of murder, attempted murder, and other provisions of the Indian penal code against the Minister of State for Rural Development, Sidhram Mhetre, his brother Shankar Mhetre and 28 others, on a complaint lodged by the brother of the victim.
Sidhram Mhetre is a Congress candidate and is a minister in the Congress-NCP led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra. The BJP candidate Patil and Mehtre are bitter rivals and their party workers have often clashed during local elections.
Kore died in cross-firing and clashes that took place between the Congress and BJP workers Saturday. He is said to have received bullet injuries and some stab wounds.
Addressing a mammoth gathering at Akkalkot on Sunday, Gopinath Munde, the national general secretary of the BJP and the former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, demanded the immediate arrest of Mhetre. Munde strongly protested the attack on BJP workers and the murder of Kore and also demanded that Mhetre be sacked immediately and arrested.
However, Mhetre denied the charges and stated neither him nor any member of his family was involved directly or indirectly in the murder. Taking serious note of the incident, the Election Commission has sent two special observers, MV Satyanarayan and Satyajit Thakur to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, senior state BJP leaders met state governor SC Jamir in Mumbai on Monday and demanded Mhetre be sacked from the government and arrested.
In a petition submitted to the governor by BJP leaders Kirit Somaiyya and Vinod Tawade, the leaders said the political atmosphere in Akkalkot after the incident is very tense and alleged that the Congress workers had attacked the BJP workers.
“The BJP demands the immediate dismissal of Mhetre from the government, that his candidature be canceled, that Election Commission observers be sent immediately to Akkalkot to make inquiries and that BJP candidates be given police protection,” the leaders said.
Jamir assured the BJP that he would discuss the issue with Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and take a decision.
In another development, two prominent leaders have expressed their desire to quit politics. On visit to Solapur on Sunday for campaigning for the Congress and NCP candidates, the federal Minister for Power, Sushilkumar Shinde, whose daughter Praniti is a Congress candidate from the city, expressed his wish to retire from active politics during a meeting to flag off the Congress campaign. At the meeting Praniti and the Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP chief and federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was also present.
Pawar too echoed similar sentiments as that of Shinde. At a press conference, where he flagged off the NCP campaign, Pawar said he too wants to make way for the youth. “The state unit president of NCP RR Patil advises me against attending more than six meetings at my age. It gives me clear indications that I should retire and I am pondering over it seriously,” he said.
