New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi today demanded an apology from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for "disrespecting" the Army and those who have laid down their lives for the country.

Gandhi slammed Bhagwat over his remarks that the RSS could "prepare" military personnel faster than the Army.

"The RSS Chief's speech is an insult to every Indian, because it disrespects those who have died for our nation. It is an insult to our flag because it insults every soldier who ever saluted it. Shame on you Mr Bhagwat, for disrespecting our martyrs and our Army. #ApologiseRSS," he tweeted.

Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and patidar activist Hardik Patel also joined Gandhi in attacking Bhagwat.

"RSS is an army of underwear clad men who spark riots in country. I urge Bhagwat to go sell pakodas across country so that Modi can give government jobs to youth of our country," Mevani tweeted.

Hardik Patel too criticized the RSS Chief and said "no one needs to learn patriotism" from Bhagwat.

 

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Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has ordered that all files will now go through Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde before being presented to CM Devendra Fadnavis for approval.

The moves seeks to revive an arrangement which existed in 2023 of files being vetted by the then two deputy CMs --Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis -- before being forwarded to then CM Shinde.

State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order to this effect on March 18. "Since July 26, 2023, files were moved from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, to (then) Deputy CM Fadnavis, who held the home, law and judiciary departments before being sent to (then) CM Shinde for approval," as per the order.

This arrangement was made after Pawar, who was then leader of opposition in the state assembly, joined the Shinde-led government along with a several NCP MLAs on July 2, 2023.

Now, with Fadnavis taking charge as chief minister, following the victory of the Mahayuti (comprising BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP) in the state polls last year, the arrangement has been changed.

All files will be routed from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who continues to hold the finance department, to Eknath Shinde, who is also the deputy CM and holds housing and urban development portfolios.

The files will be sent to Fadnavis after Shinde's approval, as per the latest order.

Since the Mahayuti 2.0 took over, there has been speculation of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis. Both the leaders have strongly denied the speculation.

There have been disagreements over the guardian minister posts of some districts. Fadnavis had to revoke his decision on the appointment of guardian ministers of Nashik and Raigad districts after objections from Shinde.