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NCP, Anna supporters in war of words in Ralegan Siddhi
A day after Anna Hazare caused a stir through his “only one slap?” comment about the assault on Sharad Pawar, a high drama unfolded at Ralegan Siddhi, where the NCP activists staged a dharna in protest against the Gandhian’s remark — only to be resisted aggressively by the Hazare supporters.
On Friday when the angry NCP workers burnt the effigy of the Gandhian at Solapur and other places in Maharashtra, the Hazare supporters — in their bid to drive away the protesters from Ralegan Siddhi — badly roughed up a Pawar supporter and damaged a car belonging to one of his party functionaries.
The NCP activists later lodged a complaint with the nearby Parner police against Hazare’s personal secretary Suresh Pathare for provoking the villagers and unleashing violence against them at Ralegan Siddhi. They also demanded Pathare’s immediate arrest.
Around noon, trouble began in Hazare’s home village of Ralegan-Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of western Maharashtra, after a group of NCP activists, led by former MLA Dadabahu Kalamkar and a district party leader Raosaheb Mhaske, sat on a dharna in front of Yadavbaba temple, where Hazare used to live in the past.
Pathare and other Hazare supporters, including the village sarpanch Jaysinh Mapari, asked the NCP activists - who were protesting against the Gandhian’s remark about the assault on Pawar - to leave the village. However, the NCP activists refused to oblige, saying that they were staging a peaceful dharna.
Before long, the entire village gathered around the protesters and asked them to suspend their dharna and leave the village. The two sides had a verbal duel for some time. Before long, the police arrived and took the protesting NCP activists to the nearby Parner police station.
Less than a hour later, another group of NCP activists tried to enter Ralegan Siddhi village. The angry Hazare supporters, who were laying in wait on the outskirts of Ralegan Siddhi, prevented them coming inside the village. They beat up one of the NCP activists and damaged a car.
