Congress takes out protest rally; police stop agitators from reaching Karad's house

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, Feb 12:

Under the agitation dubbed as Sharam Karo Modi, the Congress leaders and activists took out a morcha, from Kranti Chowk to Nutan Colony, today morning. The rally participants after paying tributes to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue

proceeded towards the house of the union Minister of State (MoS) for Finance (in Nutan Colony) Bhagwat Karad.

However, the cops by placing barricades prevented the agitators in the middle of the rally. The participants shouted anti-Modi slogans. The cops detained the agitators around 1.30 pm and restored the traffic.

On the other hand, the BJP leaders and activists, gathered outside Karad's house, in large numbers since morning hours. The MLA Atul Save, Basawaraj Mangrule, Bapu Ghadamode, Madhuri Advant, Amruta Palodkar, Sadhana Suradkar,

Gopinath Wagh, Bhausaheb Tathe, Dyaneshwar Bhandarkar and other office-bearers were seen sitting on the chairs at the entrance of the Karad's house.

Meanwhile, the police to avoid conflict between the two political party leaders and activists, stopped the Congress agitators and did not allow them to march ahead. The commissioner of police (CP) Nikhil Gupta were present on the

occasion. The cops also stopped eight to nine vehicles in the Kranti Chowk area.

Absence of leaders

Namdeo Pawar, Subhash Zambad, Vilasbapu Autade, Jitendra Dehade, Khaled Pathan, Ashok Sayyanna and Prakash Mugadiya (all past and present office-bearers) were absent in the rally. Mugadiya and Autade were present at the press

conference on Friday but were absent in the agitation. Congress Seva Dal's local office-bearers and activists were also not seen today. Meanwhile, Congress district president (OBC Cell) Atish Pitale, vice president Narayan Paratkar, city

president Darshansingh Malke and others participated in the rally.

The party observer (for Aurangabad City) Adv Mujahid Khan, district Congress president Kalyan Kale, ZP president Meena Shelke, city president Hisham Osmani, former minister Anil Patel, Women Cell's Hema Patil, MPCC secretary

(Women's Cell) Saroj Maslage, APMC president Jaganath Kale and others were in the rally. All of them shouted slogans.

Meanwhile, it has been observed that there are nine tehsils in the district, out of which, the Congress president of Paithan and Vaijapur tehsils were absent in the rally that was also participated by 25-30 women leaders and activists. The morcha

was participated by the activists only. The vicinity echoed with the slogans against Modi. Few office-bearers and veteran activists also spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Atish Pitale claimed that the vehicles coming from the tehsils were stopped in the middle. Kalyan Kale announced that the 'Thiyya Andolan' will remain to continue till the evening. Later on, the police detained all the leaders

and activists. Meanwhile, the BJP activists heaved a sigh of relief after they came to know that the police has detained the Congress activists. They all had gathered at Nutan Colony since morning. A tight bandobast was maintained by the police. Meanwhile, the traffic on the route was stopped till the agitation was underway.