MVA gets permission for mega rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

Mumbai, March 31 (IANS) Hours after a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Minister dropped hints of axing the Maha Vikas Aghadi rally on April 2, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Police issued permission to hold the event on Friday, officials said.

This will be the first combined rally of the MVA allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party-Shiv Sena (UBT) in this historic global tourist spot famed for the Ajanta-Ellora caves.

The rally will be held on Sunday evening at 5 p.m. at the Marathwada Sanskritik Mahamandal grounds for which the last minute preparations are currently underway even as BJP Minister Girish Mahajan dropped hints on Friday afternoon that the permission may not be granted.

Top MVA leaders including former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Uddhav Thackeray, Leaders of Opposition Ajit Pawar (Assembly) and Ambadas Danve (Council), state presidents Nana Patole (Congress) and Jayant Patil (NCP), senior leaders like Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, former Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal and Sanjay Raut, MP are likely to address.

A Congress leader said that "it will be a mammoth gathering of supporters of all the three parties from Marathwada and surroundings, with Danve supervising the arrangements for the event along with leaders of the other two allies".

Earlier, referring to Mahajan's veiled warnings of stopping the rally if it vitiated the disturbed atmosphere there, Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe dared the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP to show guts and deny permission.

"They are scared of defeat and are resorting to such antics... if they have guts, come out in the open and fight us," Londhe challenged.

Ahead of the event, the government and the MVA have been hurtling barbs at each other on the clashes that erupted in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalgaon and Mumbai during the Ram Navami celebrations coinciding with the holy month of Ramzan in the past two days.

Sena (UBT) MP Raut had pointed fingers at the government claiming that the riots were 'state-sponsored' and intended to derail the MVA's rally, while Pawar declined comments saying the rally preparations are on.

Mahajan told mediapersons that if the MVA rally could create further law-and-order problems, then the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP government may not allow the gathering.

He said that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis are monitoring the situation closely in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and if the police report was negative, given the current situation, a suitable decision may be taken,

Top leaders of the major political parties have appealed to all to exercise restraint and refrain from making any provocative statements that could aggravate the delicate situation.