Pune, Mar 6: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday said some people holding high posts were making unnecessary comments and this was not acceptable to the people of the state.

NCP leader Pawar made the comments, apparently aimed at Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, at Pune's MIT College ground, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the governor were present during the inauguration of various development projects.

Notably, some leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA-comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) in Maharashtra as well as the BJP recently objected to Governor Koshyari's remark that Samarth Ramdas was the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

On Sunday, before Modi's public address, Pawar said, I want to bring one thing to the prime minister's notice. Of late, some people holding important positions are making unnecessary comments which are not acceptable to Maharashtra and its citizens."

"Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his mother Rajmata Jijau formed Swarajya. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule (both social reformers from Maharashtra) laid the foundation for women's education. We need to carry forward their legacy without holding grudges against anyone and without bringing politics into the development works, the NCP leader said.

Koshyari, during a programme in Aurangabad last Sunday, underlined the role of the guru (teacher) while citing the examples of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chandragupta Maurya.

Many chakravartis (emperors), maharajas took birth on this land. But, who would have asked about Chandragupta had there not been Chanakya? Who would have asked about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had there not been Samarth (Ramdas), he said.

I am not questioning the calibre of Chandragupta and Shivaji Maharaj. Like a mother who plays a key role in shaping her child, similarly, the role of guru (teacher) has a big place in our society, the governor had said.

In the past, the MVA government and Koshyari have been engaged in a war of words over various issues.

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Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.