Maharashtra: BJP stages protests across state against Nana Patole

BJP on Monday held state wide protests against state Congress chief Nana Patole's alleged derogatory remarks against PM Narendra Modi. Patole in his address to party workers on Sunday had said the person whose wife ran away is now known as Modi. BJP workers burnt Patole’s effigy and shouted slogans against him.

Earlier, Patole had stoked controversy after his purported statement that ‘’I can beat Modi, I can badmouth him. Which is why he came to campaign against me."

Former finance minister Dudhir Mungantiwar termed Patole ‘’Maharashtra’s Pappu’’ and said that the state Congress chief’s statements and then clarification have become a major laughter show.

The state BJP chief Chandrakantdada Patil lashed out at Patole saying that he speaks like a drunken village gangster. "When this kind of angst came out in public, he pretended that he was not talking about the Prime Minister but about a gangster who was doing rounds in the news. Nana Patole spoke, in the same way, today as the alleged gangster", said Patil.

Further, the former BJP minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said he will write a letter to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi demanding that Patole should be admitted to the mental hospital.

In his response, Patole advised BJP to focus on a range of issues including unemployment, poverty, plight of farmers and small business as the voters have elected them for it.