On Tuesday, NCP leaders and activists in Mumbai and different regions of Maharashtra marked the "gaddar din" (day of traitors) to remember the one-year anniversary of the uprising led by Shiv Sena legislators, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Led by NCP working president and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule, party workers in Mumbai expressed their dissent by chanting slogans and symbolically carrying "khoke" (cartons) to highlight their belief that the dissenting legislators were enticed with bribes to acquire political power in the state.
In Mumbai, Supriya Sule and fellow protesters congregated at the party headquarters in south Mumbai to stage a demonstration, raising slogans such as "Pannas Khoke, Ekdum Ok" to assert their allegation that each dissenting legislator had allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 50 crore.
Last week, Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil urged party cadres to protest against the rebel Shiv Sena legislators. He called for symbolic displays of "khoke" (boxes of money) across the state, highlighting the basis on which the Eknath Shinde government came to power. Patil also encouraged NCP workers to inform the public that the temporary joy of the Shinde camp, recognised as the real Shiv Sena by the Election Commission, is diminishing, and their days in government are numbered.