Shiv Sena demands resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai
@the_news_21
Pune: In the aftermath of the alleged desecration of the statue of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Bengaluru, the Shiv Sena launched protests across Maharashtra against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka and demanding for the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Sena’s ally in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government too joined in the chorus as well. Intense protests were witnessed in Mumbai and Pune cities as activists from both parties raised slogans against Bommai and the Karnataka BJP government.
Hitting out at the BJP leaders and their aides for remaining silent, Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant and former minister lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking action against the Karnataka BJP’s leadership which permitted the desecration of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue to take place.
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj not only expressed the dream of Swarajya but made it come true. If the great king is being insulted in the land of a BJP government with its blessings, then why is the Prime Minister of the country silent? We are very angry about this incident yet we are expressing our anger in a restrained manner,” Sawant said.
Calling the BJP’s top leaders as ‘hypocrites’, Sawant dared them to take action against Bommai by demanding the Karnataka CM’s resignation, and warned that the Sena’s ire would spill over on the streets. The Sena leader remarked, “How dare Bommai dismiss this incident (statue vandalising) as ‘trivial’…the Sena demands his immediate resignation.”
Meanwhile, NCP party workers condemned the Bengaluru incident and protested against Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Pune, where the latter laid a foundation stone to a Shivaji statue in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
The NCP said that Shah and the BJP were merely using Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for ‘political convenience’ and rebuked the Union Home Minister for refusing to condemn the Karnataka BJP government.
Earlier in the day, NCP activists protested outside the PMC building holding placards, demanding that Shah return back to New Delhi.
