BJP activists carry out purification ceremony at Jalgaon party office where Shiv Sainiks released chickens

After Union Minister Narayan Rane’s arrest on Wednesday, Sena workers had erected banners calling him a chicken thief and had released chickens at BJP offices in Pune and Jalgaon

Shiv Sena workers protest against Narayan Rane at Goodluck chowk in Pune's Deccan area. (Express photo by Ashish Kale)

A group of BJP workers hired a priest and performed a “shuddikaran” ceremony at the party office in Jalgaon district Saturday as part of cleaning up the premises after Shiv Sena activists released chickens there.

BJP activist Deepak Suryavanshi said Sena’s action hurt the party’s sentiments. “Shiv Sena members released chickens in our office during this sacred month of Shravan. It has defiled the premises,” he said. The purification ceremony included a yagna fire ritual.

Also Read | Pune sees day-long protests for and against Narayan Rane, starring a kitten, a chicken and a donkey

After Union Minister for MSMEs Narayan Rane was arrested on Wednesday, Sena and BJP workers clashed at several places across the state, taking out protests and putting up posters against each other. Sena workers had even erected banners calling Rane a “kombdi chor” or chicken thief and had released chickens at BJP offices in Pune and Jalgaon.

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Earlier this week, Shiv Sainiks had been unhappy after Rane visited the Bal Thackeray National Memorial in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park to offer tributes during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra. Shortly after the visit, Sena members ‘purified’ the premises using gau mutra (cow urine).

The Sena leaders maintained that Rane, who had been expelled from Shiv Sena, had no moral right to visit the memorial as he had hurt the party and its supremo Bal Thackeray.

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