Maharashtra CM faces serious threat to life: Prakash Ambedkar

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis faces serious threat to his life from certain pro-Hindutva elements, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh President Prakash Ambedkar claimed on Wednesday.

To justify his contention, Ambedkar pointed to a Facebook post of one Raosaheb Patil, who Ambedkar claims is a "close aide" of Sambhaji V. Bhide, President of Shri Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan, a pro-Hindutva ultra-rightist outfit from western Maharashtra.

Patil's post at 10.12 p.m. on January 1 terms Fadnavis, his ministerial colleague Girish Bapat and former journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni as "insects" (keeda) who could be "chopped off".

"If you fall short of figures for Koregaon-Bhima, you are free to chop off Girish Bapat, Devendra Fadnavis, Sudheendra Kulkarni, I shall have no objections. They are insects infesting the country and the state," Patil's post said.

Incidentally, the post came on the day when Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district was rocked by casteist riots in which a 28-year-old youth from Nanded was killed, Ambedkar told media persons here.

Working as an "assistant at Balaji Motion Pictures", he has described himself as a "staunch Shiv Sainik" and follower of the ideologies of late Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

Ambedkar, who led a successful Maharashtra shutdown on January 3 that claimed the life of a schoolboy, has consistently targeted Bhide and another pro-Hindutva leader from Pune, Milind Ekbote, for the Koregaon-Bhima riot.

--IANS

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