Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appears to have succeed in convincing the Shiv Sena to withdraw its protest against Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri's book launch.
Sources told Zee Media that the breakthrough happened after Fadnavis held a detailed discussion with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The Sena appears to have backtracked on opposing Kasuri in view of the criticism it faced over the attack on the main organiser and former journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni.
Alleged Shiv Sena activists had smeared black ink on the face of the Observer Research Foundation chief earlier today.
Speaking to the media, Kulkarni had said : "We won't be cowed down by such events and the book launch will happen as planned."
Defending the action of party activists, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: "Smearing ink is an very mild form of democratic protest. They are so upset about ink. Imagine when our soldiers are killed and their blood is spilled. It is not ink, it is the blood of our soldiers."
"Nobody can foretell how public anger will explode."
