Mumbai, Sep 22 (IANS): The Maharashtra Congress on Saturday demanded strict action against ruling MahaYuti leaders who have been "openly issuing threats" to the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
A Congress delegation of top leaders, legislators and Parliamentarians, raised these and other issues in a memorandum submitted to the Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan Raj Bhavan, detailing how "the law-and-order in the state has totally collapsed", giving rise to political and social instability.
They included Maharashtra unit Congress President Nana Patole, Working President M. Arif Naseem Khan, Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, Mumbai city unit chief Varsha Gaikwad, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Nitin Raut, Chandrakant Handore, Aslam Shaikh, Sachin Sawant, Vishal Patil, Amin Patel, Vishwajit Kadam, Vikram Sawant and others.
The leaders referred to the open, violent threats to chop off or burn Rahul Gandhi's tongue, but the MahaYuti did nothing.
"After our pressure, complaints were lodged against them, but they are yet to be arrested for threats to Rahul Gandhi, whose life could be in danger due to that. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis as well as the police have assumed the role of bystanders," the Congress leaders submitted to the Governor.
The Congress referred to bias by the police who do not take action against the ruling side's elected representatives even when they make provocative statements, raising doubts about whether there is a conspiracy to foment riots in the state.
The delegation mentioned the growing atrocities against women and the rape of two kindergarten girls in Badlapur, and the breakdown in the law-and-order machinery had raised doubts if the upcoming state Assembly elections would be held in a fearless atmosphere.
"We pointed out other major problems like the leakage of competitive exam papers, the distress in farmlands with the government adopting a hostile attitude towards the farmers with no help coming from the Centre, the growing unemployment, the crash of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statute, etc," said Patole.
After giving a patient hearing to the Congress delegation, the Governor said he will look into the matter and also promised to initiate strict action after collecting information from the Home Department on the threats to Rahul Gandhi.