Congress has announced MLA Praniti Shinde as its candidate from Solapur Lok Sabha constituency. Shinde has been on a tour across villages in Solapur. On Thursday night, after she had finished her Pandharpur tour, Shinde claimed that her vehicle was attacked near Sarkoli village.
Solapur district has been at the center of the Maratha reservation agitations. Across many villages, Maratha activists have been prohibiting leaders from visiting their villages, as a way of protesting. Yesterday, Shinde was at the Chale village and talking to a few villagers. It is being said that few people started to protest for the Maratha reservation and things took a violent turn as Shinde tried to leave the place.
While speaking to the media, Shinde revealed that workers from BJP posing as Maratha activists tried to attack her and her vehicle. "Some people pretending to be activists- mind you they are not actual activists, they were BJP's people who tried to vandalize my car (...) I was sitting inside patiently the whole time while they were at it." The MLA from Solapur further elaborated that when things escalated beyond a limit, she intervened and tried to reprimand the vandalisers. "They were not in a condition to listen to me. There was an attempt to harm a woman MLA."
Protesting the BJP, Praniti Shinde further appealed to Manoj Jarange Patil to take note of the issue. "He should know how the BJP is taking advantage of the situation (Maratha protests) and now attacking me, a woman MLA from Congress." Shinde also said that the ongoing Maratha agitation, which has been going without any disruption will suffer at the cost of BJP. "They are deliberately trying to sabotage the movement", Shinde said.