MVA announces protest march against ‘timid’ Shinde-Fadnavis govt on Dec 17

The MVA protest march will begin at 11 am from Jijamata Udyan at Byculla and will proceed to Azad Maidan in CSMT. “It will be an unprecedented mammoth protest march which the city has never seen,” said Thackeray.

The Winter Session of the state legislature will begin from December 19. “Do not think that this is only to demand the removal of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. We have a government for the first time since the formation of Maharashtra which is scared to put its stand in front of Karnataka. Its ministers had to cancel their tour to Belgaum after an order from Karnataka,” said Thackeray.

He said projects in Maharashtra were shifted to Gujarat because of elections there. “Elections will be held in Karnataka next year. Will this government handover Maharashtra’s villages for that election,” he asked.

The Opposition has been targeting BJP leaders and Koshyari over the statements made by them, which they say are not only ‘disrespectful’ towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other icons of the state but are also contrary to historical facts.

Ajit Pawar said that irrespective of their demand for removal of Koshyari is accepted before December 17, the march will be held as decided. “People in the border areas of Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat are saying they want to go there. It had never happened before in the state. How can Maharashtra’s ministers be stopped from going to Karnataka,” he asked.

Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat said the Karnataka CM has been making statements hurting Maharashtra. “Our CM cannot even utter a word. This is where Maharashtra CM has brought our state to,” he said.

When asked whether the Opposition will go to Belgaum if the ruling side is not going, Thackeray said let the government first announce that it cannot go there. “Once they do that, we are not only capable of going there but even handling the government,” he said.