Congress accuses Mumbai BJP chief of passing off cow slaughter video from Manipur as one from K'taka
Mumbai, May 23: The Congress on Tuesday demanded action against Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar for sharing a video of cow slaughter from Manipur, and `claiming' that it was shot in Karnataka following the Assembly polls results.
In a statement, Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said that Shelar claimed at a BJP program that the video had emerged from Karnataka after the Congress won the elections in the southern state.
The video was, in fact, from Manipur, and Shelar made the wrong claim with malicious intentions instead of checking its authenticity, he alleged.
Shelar, a former Maharashtra minister, was not available for comment.
"(Maharashtra) Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis takes action only against leaders from Opposition. But he would not take such strong steps against his own party leaders and workers," the Congress spokesperson said.
"It appears to be the BJP's plan to disturbt social harmony in the state ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections in November next year," Londhe added.
In a video clip of the BJP program, Shelar is seen showing a video to the gathering, and reading out the accompanying message which claimed that a cow was killed to celebrate the Congress's victory.
"I leave it to the friends in the media to verify this," the BJP leader is heard saying.
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RS Chairman accepts merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP
New Delhi (PTI): Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.
After this transition, the BJP's strength in the Upper House has increased to 113.
Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who have merged.
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The Rajya Sabha website now shows that the seven MPs are part of the BJP list of members.
The seven MPs had on Friday petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger and the same has been accepted, sources said.
The AAP had on Sunday moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the membership of the seven MPs, who had switched sides.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said he has submitted a petition to Chairman Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of the seven party MPs in the Upper House, who recently quit the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP.
On Friday last, the AAP suffered a jolt when the seven Rajya Sabha MPs quit and announced merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
