BJP man trying to illegally take control of college:Gulabchand

Industrialist Ajit Gulabchand, who heads the Administrative Council of Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli district, has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, accusing a BJP leader of trying to illegally take control of the educational institution.
Prithviraj Deshmukh, Sangli district chief of BJP who faces the charges, however, has denied the allegation. "Nothing illegal or criminal incident has taken place. Anyone can verify," he said.
The college is managed and run by the Administrative Council appointed by Walchand Memorial Trust with the support of the Maharashtra government for more than 50 years.
Gulabchand, the CMD of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), said the Council has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and brought the matter to his notice.

The Council has alleged that the henchmen of Deshmukh stormed the college yesterday, illegally occupied the office of its Director and stopped the teaching and non-teaching staff from entering it.
Gulabchand told PTI: "We are deeply concerned about the security of college staff and the future of about 5,000 students studying in the college, fearing which we have written a letter to Fadnavis."

He added that the Chief Minister and Education Minister Vinod Tawde have assured to deal with the issue firmly and in accordance with the law to ensure peace and safety of the students, faculty and staff.
The letter written to Fadnavis by Ravi Purohit, member of the Administrative Council, said, "Around 11.30 AM on Tuesday, Deshmukh's henchmen barged into the college campus and the office of Director and removed him from his chamber, snatched keys of the premises from him and occupied his office illegally. They prevented other professors and staffers from entering the office of the Director."

"It is indeed very unfortunate that Deshmukh is using his clout and abusing his position as a member of BJP in an illegal and unethical manner, indulging in threatening, intimidating and use of coercion to take over the College...The said incident was witnessed by several teachers and students, and the atmosphere in the college is that of fear, insecurity and despair adding that constable deployed at the college did nothing," it added.