New Delhi: Leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) met on Sunday to discuss preparations for a protest march organised by the Opposition bloc against the Eknath Shinde-BJP government on December 17 on various issues including the Maharashtra -Karnataka boundary dispute. The march will commence from Jijamata Udyan at 11.30 am and culminate at CSMT station in south Mumbai, a distance of almost 4 km, Congress leader Naseem Khan said, as reported by the news agency PTI.
He said the insult of icons, the Maharashtra -Karnataka boundary dispute are among the issues that will be highlighted during the upcoming protest. Leaders of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, and Samajwadi Party will take part in the agitation, PTI reported.
The Opposition parties in Maharashtra have been accusing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of being a "mute spectator" against Karnataka's "aggressive" stand in view of the simmering border dispute between the two states. They had also slammed Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for dubbing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj an "icon of olden times".
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Recently, Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil courted a controversy saying B R Ambedkar and social reformer Jyotiba Phule did not seek government grants for running educational institutions but "begged" (for donations).
Earlier on Sunday, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of ignoring the safety of women in the state.
Uddhav camp Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that several vehicles procured by the Mumbai Police under the Nirbhaya Fund, which was meant to be used for fighting crimes against women, are instead being used for legislators of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena faction, which is part of the ruling coalition in the Maharashtra government.
While addressing a press briefing at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai's Dadar on Sunday Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "In 2013 Nirbhaya rape case happened in Delhi. Learning from the case, we set up the Nirbhaya Security fund and released several vehicles including 22 boleros, 35 Ertigas, 313 Pulsar bikes, and 200 Activas, in Mumbai specifically dedicated to the safety of women. Now, this government (CM Shinde-led government) used these Nirbhaya Security vehicles for Minister's security, the one who cheated us," as quoted by news agency ANI.
"Sanjay Rathod, former Maharashtra minister, insulted women and now the Maharashtra government is providing him vehicles as escort security, purchased from the fund collected for women's safety," Priyanka Chaturvedi said. "It's shameful for all of us," she added.
(With agencies' Inputs)