'I said it...' Fadnavis admits to controversial audio-clip
Mumbai/Palghar, May 26: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday admitted to his voice and content in a audio-clip in which he exhorted his activists "to win Palghar elections" at any cost, which kicked up a massive political row in the poll-bound Maharashtra district.
However, he hit back by alleging that the original audio-clip was "selectively edited and doctored" to remove the context of his statement on "saam daam, dand and bhed" to party activists.
To prove his point, he played the entire 14-minute audio-clip before the media and accused the Shiv Sena of "resorting to such low-level tactics as defeat stares at it in Palghar".
"I said it... and that is my voice. But the following sentence has been deliberately knocked off to twist it completely out of context. I am sending it to the Election Commission with a request that if I am found guilty, they can take action against me," Fadnavis declared.
In the same breath, he demanded that if the Shiv Sena were found guilty of "editing and doctoring" the audio-tape, then they should also face action for playing it in public to misguide the voters on the eve of the Palghar Lok Sabha by-election.
The audio clip controversy erupted on a day when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes four years, and just two days before the high-stakes Palghar Lok Sabha by-election of May 28.
In the tape played by the Shiv Sena - which went viral on social media and television networks - Fadnavis is heard directing Bharatiya Janata Party activists to use "saam, daam, dand and bhed" and win Palghar at any cost.
"We have a huge challenge before us... Some people are challenging our very existence. They are behaving like friends but backstabbing us and we must hit back. If anybody is bullying us, we must attack them. They must know that I am a bigger bully. I am firmly standing behind you," Fadnavis said in Marathi, in the purported tape aired by the Shiv Sena.
On May 8, Fadnavis had thrown the gauntlet at the Shiv Sena, the Congress, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and the CPI-M by saying: "Come what may, we shall win Palghar seat. This was a BJP seat. What the Shiv Sena has done is wrong. Winning it would be a fitting tribute to the late Chintaman Vanga."
Ruling ally and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray raised the hackles of the partner BJP by playing the audio tape in his public rally on Friday evening.
Thackeray, along with state Congress President Ashok Chavan, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi President Hitendra Thakur and other political leaders demanded that the Election Commission should take note of the "threatening" content in the audio-clip and initiate suitable action against Fadnavis.
Pouncing on Fadnavis, Palghar Shiv Sena leaders said that the Election Commission should conduct a forensic probe into the audio-tape on Saturday and if the Chief Minister was guilty "he should resign by this evening".
This was the second jolt for the BJP in two days as the curtains fall on Palghar by-election campaigning on Saturday.
A couple of days ago, Shiv Sena activists caught some alleged BJP workers with a large amount of cash which was reportedly intended for distribution among the voters.
The Palghar seat has become a matter of prestige for the two warring allies after the BJP accused the Shiv Sena of "hijacking" its prospective candidate, Shriniwas Vanga, son of the late BJP MP Chintaman Vanga this month.
Stunned by the Sena move, the BJP was compelled to nominate Rajendra Gavit, a Congress leader who walked into the party at the last minute before filing nominations.
The Congress fielded its veteran Damodar Shingada, besides the BVA's Baliram Jadhav and CPI-M's Kiran Gahala in the five-cornered main contest, with the BJP leaving no stone unturned to retain the seat.
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Google Maps lands Assam Police in Nagaland, locals hold them captive mistaking them for criminals
Guwahati, Jan 8: A 16-member team of the Assam Police inadvertently strayed into Nagaland's Mokokchung district during a raid while they were following directions on Google Maps, and was attacked by locals and held captive overnight, an official said on Wednesday.
According to a senior official of Assam Police, the incident occurred on Tuesday night when a team of the Jorhat District Police was carrying out a raid to apprehend an accused.
"It was a tea garden area, which was shown in Assam on Google Maps. However, it was actually inside Nagaland. The team went inside Nagaland in pursuit of the criminal due to confusion and misleading guidance on GPS," he said.
The locals thought the Assam Police team to be some miscreants carrying sophisticated arms and detained them, he said.
"Of the 16 personnel, only three were in uniform and the rest were in civil dress. This also led to confusion among the locals. They also attacked the team and one of our personnel was injured," he added.
Upon receiving the information of the hostile situation in Nagaland, the Jorhat Police immediately contacted Mokokchung Superintendent of Police, who sent a team to the spot to rescue the Assam Police personnel.
"The locals then realised that it was a genuine police team from Assam and released five members, including the injured person.
"They, however, held the remaining 11 persons as captives overnight. They were released in the morning and reached Jorhat later," the official said.
