Angry over criticism, Eknath Shinde-led govt slaps cases against Uddhav Thackeray's Sena UBT leaders

Mumbai: Under siege from the continuous onslaught of the Opposition Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), several of its leaders have been targeted with police cases by the government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Among them are Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant, deputy leader Sushma Andhare and MLA Bhaskar Jadhav, among other leaders, following complaints by Dattaram Gavas, an activist of Shinde`s Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. Sawant has been booked for ridiculing the Bharatiya Janata Party`s Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane whom he referred to as `kombdi chor` (chicken thief) at a public rally in Thane this week, ruffling feathers.Jadhav has been slapped with a case for aping Shinde`s style of reading out a prepared speech at his October 5 Dussehra Rally in Bandra Kurla Complex.

Andhare has also been booked for mimicking Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s promises of giving employment to two crore youths at a Thane meeting.

In a statement on the October 9 meeting, the Naupada Police Station (Thane) has named other local-level leaders and activists like Anita Birje, Madhukar Deshmukh, Sachin Chavan, and Dharmarajya Party`s Rajan Raje.Accordingly, the police have charged them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for inflammatory speech, using objectionable language, attempts to incite passion and sullying the image of CM Shinde, etc.

Sena (UBT) leaders have cried foul over the police action, terming it as a `political vendetta` intended to "silence and destroy the Opposition".

Senior farmers leader of the Sena (UBT) Kishore Tiwari said that the Shinde-Fadnavis government is "selectively targetting" party`s leaders who raise their voices against the regime to demoralise the party rank-and-file.

Strongly flaying the police cases, veteran Sena (UBT) union leader Dr. Raghunath Kuchik said that the Shinde-Fadnavis government has "crossed all limits of political decency" by targeting political opponents.

An unfazed Andhare said that if speaking the truth is an offence, then she was ready to face all the consequences of the police case lodged against her, but would continue to raise her voice against any injustice to the people.

Though both Andhare and Jadhav said they had received no communication from the police, they said whatever they spoke is in the public domain, even as the Thane Police continues its probe.