Aurangabad, Dec 5:
The activists of Samata Parishad (SP) today created chaos, and they stopped the leader Balaji Shinde from speaking further after he made a critical comment on Chaggan Bhujbal during the OBC convention. The activists went aggressive and pulled the podium on the ground. Later on, all of them gathered near the stage to register their protest. SP activists shouted slogans in favour of Bhujbal. The Relief and Rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar was the chief guest at the convention.
It so happened that Shinde, during the introductory speech, pointed out that Bhujbal tried to take out OBC morcha in Pune with a photo of Sharad Pawar on the organisation''s yellow coloured flag. This act misleads OBCs, and we are against it. The statement made SP activists aggressive. SP''s district president Manoj Ghodke told that they would not tolerate any word against Bhujbal. Later on, he tendered an apology for the act by his members.
Sensing seriousness of the situation, the minister Wadettiwar raised and started to speak. He said," Bhujbal saheb is our ideal. As a result, there is no question of disrespecting him. He is also president of state government''s sub-committee formed for the welfare of OBC. We are working together and will soon be submitting our committee''s report to the state government." The minister''s speech helped in reducing the tense in the situation. Wadettiwar briefed upon various problems of OBCs and drew round of applause from the audience.
The minister also underlined, the OBCs movement '' Mee OBC'' has been formed with the unity of various components in the society. The agitation will survive if the differences regarding caste and creed are set to an aside or else the generations of OBCs would be pushed to suffer, he warned.
" I came here as an OBC activist, not as a minister or Congressman. I wanted to work for the welfare of OBC through my portfolio. I strive that the OBCs could get at least their constitutional rights. at least, my throat could be slit for initiating these works," he feared.
The divisional convention was presided over by Prakash Shendge. The chief organiser of the convention Balasaheb Sanap expressed his views on the occasion. Former legislator Dr Narayan Munde suggested framing a policy that the votes of OBCs should be cast in favour of OBCs only. Sadhana Rathod, Babanrao Taywade and Machindra Bhosale also spoke on occasion.
Legislator Rajesh Rathod, District Congress president Kalyan Kale, City Congress president Hisham Osmani and many other OBC leaders and office-bearers were on the dais. The participants at the convention were wearing caps and facemasks written Mi OBC on them was an attraction of the convention.