Maha Cong puts off proposed agitation outside Fadnavis's home over PM's remarks

The Maharashtra Congress on Monday temporarily put off its planned agitation outside BJP leader Devendra Fadnaviss official residence here citing inconvenience caused to motorists but not before BJP functionaries took to streets to confront supporters of the ruling partyThe proposed agitation was part of demonstrations that the Congress has planned across the state to demand an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly insulting Maharashtra by some of his comments made in the Lok Sabha recently in connection with Covid19 pandemicThe Mumbai Police stopped Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole who was to lead the protest outside his residence here and detained other workers of the partyBJP MLA Ashish Shelar claimed the Congresss agitation had failed and alleged that the police also detained some of his party leaders and workers who were waiting to confront Congress workers if the latter showed up outside the residence of Leader of Opposition and former CM FadnavisFadnavis said there was no question of an apology from Modi and rather the Congress should apologise for ruining the countryPM Modi had said in the Lok Sabha that during the first Covid19 wave when people were following lockdowns and pandemic norms the Congress was standing at a Mumbai station and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native statesOn Monday Patole said considering the inconvenience caused to motorists his party was putting off the agitationModi insulted the culture of Maharashtra the Maharashtra of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj We condemn the BJPs culture of supporting Modi who insulted Maharashtra the Congress leader told reportersPatole squarely blamed the BJP for causing inconvenience to the people as vehicular movement in parts of south Mumbai was affected He claimed the BJP brought people on the streets by paying them money to take part in the counter protestrdquoldquoThe BJP is backing Modi who insulted Maharashtra The party is Maharashtra drohi traitor The BJP caused inconvenience to the people We are putting off the agitation temporarily in view of that he saidPatole said the Congresss agitation will continue outside the residences of BJP MPs in the stateAsked if the Congress could not go ahead with the protest due to the BJPs aggressive stance Patole replied in the negativeldquoWe did stage a protest Our people reached there outside Fadnaviss residence Police detained our workers But it is the BJP which resorted to goondaism and stopped people on the roadsrdquo Patole allegedHe said the Congress will not do anything that will insult Maharashtra and cause inconvenience to the peopleAccording to police sources a protest march by Congress began around 930 am however the protesters were later removed from the road to restore trafficTraffic on Pedder Road and Girgaon Chowpatty towards South Mumbai has been affected due to the gathering of protesters at Girgaon Band Stand You are requested to take an alternative route TrafficUpdatesmdash Mumbai Police MumbaiPolice February 14 2022Earlier in the day several Varkaris devotees of Lord Vitthal playing clash cymbals joined Patole outside his residence as he set out to lead the demonstrationSome of the Varkaris including children who had gathered there appeared to be clueless about why the protest was calledMeanwhile Fadnavis said there was no question of an apology from the prime ministerldquoInstead the Congress should apologise to the country It has ruined the country Let people like Patole engage in drama to the extent they want It will have no bearing on the peoplerdquo he saidShelar who later visited the Malabar Hill police station in south Mumbai accused the state MVA government comprising the Shiv Sena NCP and Congress of trying to suppress the agitation in a dictatorial manner by detaining BJP leaders like Gopal Shetty Kalidas Kolambkar and othersThe BJP MLA also claimed that Patoles agitation had failed as there were not even five people with himHe also said the Congresss Maharashtra and Mumbai units were not on the same page over the agitation This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever