Man obstructs CM Shinde’s convoy, calls him traitor; feted by Uddhav Thackeray
Mumbai, Nov 13: The video of a man trying to obstruct Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde’s convoy and calling him ‘gaddar’ (traitor) for splitting the Shiv Sena and siding with BJP for power, has gone viral in social media, creating buzz in political circles, a week before the assembly elections.
The video is from Mumbai’s Sakinaka area, where the young man, Santosh Katke, sought to disrupt Shinde's convoy by waving black flags and called Shinde “gaddar”, prompting Shinde to halt his convoy and step out.
The incident, which took place outside Congress candidate and former minister Naseem Khan's office, was captured on video.
Shinde rushed into Khan’s office, questioning party workers about the incident and asked whether they condoned such behaviour.
Katke was detained by security personnel and handed over to the police, who let him go after a while, an official said.
On Tuesday, Katke and his father joined the Shiv Sena (UBT) at Matoshree and were felicitated by Uddhav Thackeray.
Santosh Katke told reporters that his pent up anger exploded on seeing Shinde, prompting him to utter those words.
In June last year, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) workers observed "gaddar din" (traitor's day) to mark the first anniversary of the rebellion by Shinde and other Shiv Sena legislators.
The rebellion in June 2022 led by Eknath Shinde culminated in the collapse of the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, comprising the united Sena and NCP and the Congress.
In May this year, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi’s ‘Mera Baap Gaddar Hai’ remark targeting Shinde and his MP son Shrikant ignited a row.
“Who are you Eknath Shinde? What are you? You are nothing but a ‘gaddar’ (traitor),” Chaturvedi had said, referring to the split in the undivided Shiv Sena in June 2022.
Chaturvedi had continued, “Whatever you do, you cannot escape the ‘gaddar’ taint. It will haunt even your family, as in the film ‘Deewar’.”
With just a week left before Maharashtra goes to polls, a man obstructed chief minister Eknath Shinde's convoy and called him gaddar (traitor) for splitting the Shiv Sena and siding with the BJP for power.
— The Siasat Daily (@TheSiasatDaily) November 13, 2024
A visibly angry Shinde got out of his car and went straight to the… pic.twitter.com/jWFtlpumcP
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We received request; will decide soon whether to support TVK: Thirumavalavan
Chennai (PTI): VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday said that his party received a request from TVK for support and the high-level committee of his party will decide whether to support the Vijay-led party to form the government.
The TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly and emerged as the single largest party. Vijay will have to resign from one of the two constituencies he has won.
Though the Congress party, which has five MLAs, has extended support to TVK, the actor-politician-led party was still short of as many seats to touch the magic number of 118, the majority mark in the 234-member House.
"We received the request letter from TVK. We are thankful for that. We have not ignored his (Vijay's) request. We have a procedure. Therefore, our party's high-level committee will decide soon. We are going to discuss the merits and demerits of our position," the VCK leader told reporters here.
With regard to the delay in the governor's call to the TVK, which is the single largest party, to form the government, Thirumavalavan requested the governor to invite Vijay to form the government. "It is a constitutional right and people's verdict," he added.
Asserting that the governor cannot say that Vijay should hold 118 MLAs' support now itself to form the government, he said that after taking over power, Vijay has to prove an absolute majority only on the floor of the Assembly.
