Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said the incident of a mob allegedly attacking police personnel in Aurangabad city, now named Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, was unfortunate and appealed to leaders to avoid making provocative statements and giving political colour to it.
On Wednesday night, a mob of over 500 people allegedly attacked police officers after some youth fought among themselves.
The incident, which lasted about an hour, occurred in Kiradpura, which has a famous Ram temple and where a large crowd is expected to celebrate Ram Navami on Thursday, according to police officials.
'Political leaders should know how to behave in such situations'
Speaking at his residence in Nagpur on the violence, Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, said, "The incident that happened in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is very unfortunate and efforts are on to maintain peace in the area. However, some people are trying to vitiate the atmosphere there by making provocative statements." "I feel that political leaders should know how to behave in such situations. Hence, if anyone is giving such wrong statements they should refrain from it. Everyone should maintain peace. If anyone is trying to give political colour to this incident, then it is unfortunate," he said in response to a query about some leaders accusing him of being responsible for the episode.
"First of all, the SC has not made any such observation. After the Maharashtra government apprised the court of the action taken by it, the court did not initiate any contempt action against the Maharashtra government," Fadnavis said.
"Similarly, the Solicitor General brought to the notice of the court about what is happening in other states and only Maharashtra is being targeted. That is when the court made a general statement for all states that the state governments must take action. I feel there is no decision against the state government or initiated any contempt action," the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said.
(With PTI inputs)
