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Narayan Rane’s ‘death threat’ to MVA workers: As Fadnavis downplays BJP MP’s remarks, Uddhav Sena says deputy CM should feel ashamed

Even the BJP's Mahayuti ally NCP condemned Narayan Rane's remarks during a clash in Malvan, where a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed.

shivajiMembers of Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) protest against the collapse of Malvan's Shivaji Maharaj statue, in Thane. (PTI)

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has drawn ire from the Opposition for backing Narayan Rane despite the Lok Sabha MP allegedly threatening to kill Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) workers during a clash in the coastal town of Malvan on Wednesday. The BJP’s Mahayuti ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also disapproved of Rane’s statement.

On Wednesday, supporters of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Rane clashed in Malvan when they arrived simultaneously to inspect the site where a 35-foot-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed on Monday.

In the confrontation that ensued, Rane threatened MVA workers in front of the police. While arguing with the police, Rane allegedly said, “If the police cooperate with them (MVA workers), we will not cooperate in this district. If you allow them to target us, by night I will enter the house of each one and kill them. I will not spare them.”

Soon after the incident, Fadnavis told reporters that Rane speaks in an aggressive tone but must not have threatened anyone. “Rane’s style of speaking is aggressive. He speaks assertively, but I don’t think he intended to threaten anyone,” he said.

Taking exception to Fadnavis’s statement, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, ”It is shocking despite being Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister, Fadnavis is backing Narayan Rane, who is issuing open threats to MVA workers and to the police. Rane has virtually spat on Maharashtra home minister. Fadnavis should feel ashamed of himself.”

BJP goondas are going on a rampage and issuing open threats. Fadnaivs said Rane speaks aggressively… Then why is he filing cases against us if we speak aggressively? During the BJP rule, Maharashtra culture has gone for a toss. Corruption and lawlessness have become the order of the day,” Raut added.

Sunil Tatkare, the state chief of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, said, “The kind of language that Rane used does not suit a senior leader like him. It is inappropriate. It also speaks badly of Maharashtra’s political culture.”

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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