Friction within Cong,Sena-BJP on Vidarbha

The Sena activists threw stones at a bus and also damaged a few shops before forcing schools and colleges to close down. As the word spread,shops downed their shutters with a bandh-like atmosphere prevailing in the city. Senior Sena leaders — MP Bhawna Gawli and MLC Diwakar Raote — rushed to Yavatmal while the Sena protestors followed suit at many other places in the district.

On Sunday,in reply to the MPCC’s show-cause notices on Vidarbha,Congress workers from the region,led by Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar and Wardha MP Datta Meghe,said the statehood agitation was launched by the Congress and the party should take it forward. “We have not gone on the BJP’s forum for it. We are part of the all-party committee,of which they are also a part. If we go back on it,we will be finished in the region,” they said.

MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre,who also hails from the region,had said,“party discipline should be maintained and any action should be taken within the party’s framework”.