People of Maharashtra are angry over the incidents in Beed and Parbhani; govt should answer: Nana Patole

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On day one of the winter session, the Parbhani violence and the sarpanch's murder in Beed district were raised in the Maharashtra Assembly.

"Both the incidents - the desecration of the Constitution and the brutal murder of the sarpanch - have happened after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power. In Parbhani, an Ambedkarite activist died in police custody. This incident is very serious and there is a lot of anger among the followers of Ambedkar and the people of the state," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Nana Patole said, while speaking in the assembly on Monday, and demanded that the government come clean on the two issues.

In his reply, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured that the discussion on these incidents will be held after the Speaker lists them.

Later, while speaking to the media in the Legislative Assembly premises, Patole said that the police had information about the kidnapping of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, but they sprung into action only after he was brutally murdered. "Are Dalits and Bahujans being oppressed after BJP came to power in the state? Has the EVM (electronic voting machine) government started a political murder spree in the state? "Patole questioned.

He also alleged that a youth, who was picked up by the cops in the Parbhani violence case, has died in police custody.

"The post-mortem report of Somnath Suryavanshi, a resident of Parbhani, has revealed that he was beaten to death by the police while in custody," said Patole, demanding that a murder case be filed against the government in this case.

He added that the police have arrested a person for descecrating a copy of the Constitution and there are claims that he is a "psychopath". "However, he participated in a rally taken out in connection with the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh," Patole pointed out.

He also questioned about the safety of Hindus in India. "Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh was a true Hindu. His limbs were chopped off, and the accused danced on his body after his murder. If Hindus in Bangladesh are not safe, are Hindus in India safe," he questioned, alleging that the Parbhani and Beed incidents are an attempt to divert attention from the EVM issue of Markadwadi in Solapur district.

He also claimed that a man was allegedly kidnapped from the bungalow of former Maharashtra minister Ravindra Chavan to extort Rs 9 crore from him.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the assembly session, Congress legislators staged a walkout from the House. Slogans were raised against the government on the alleged issue of 'EVM tampering' in Solapur as well as the Parbhani and Beed incidents.