Mumbai: With assembly elections around the corner, political tension was rife in Nalasopara after banners proclaiming 'Chor ki Police?' were displayed in the area. The word 'chor' in the banner allegedly refers to the MLA Kshitij Thakur and his party, the Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi (BVA), whereas the word 'police' refers to former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, recent inductee into the Shiv Sena and its probable candidate from the constituency.
As per speculation, Sharma is most likely to be nominated from the Nalasopara constituency, but even before the date of the election has been announced, banners like these have surfaced. Moreover, the agency which has put up the banners, is getting threatening calls to pull them down. It is suspected that these threats are coming from the party workers of the BVA.
Encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, who resigned in July, after serving in the police force for 35 years, joined the Sena last week. The former police officer joined the Sena in the presence of party president Uddhav Thackeray, who welcomed him with a ‘Shiv Bandhan’. Sena leaders sport ‘Shiv Bandhan’, a thread, on their wrists to indicate loyalty to the party. Sharma had been serving as a senior police inspector at the anti-extortion cell of Thane Police when he put in his papers.
