Violence Grip Rival Political Workers in Maha; Nirupam Held, Released

Miffed at spiteful remarks against their leader, Shiv Sena workers allegedly vandalized a vehicle that belonged to a worker of the NCP, the person who had spoken ill of Bal Thackeray.

Earlier, Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and party candidate Bharat Parekh were put under arrest by the Mumbai police on charges of unlawful assembly and rioting and later released on bail.

In the assembly polls scheduled for October 13, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine is looking to oust the Congress-NCP alliance, which has been in power for a decade now.

In the meanwhile, an FIR was lodged against former chief minister and Congressman Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Amit Deshmukh for infringing the model code of conduct in the Latur police station.

Deshmukh and his supporters were accused of disrupting a rally headed by rival candidate Annarao Patil in Babhalgaon village.

Amit Deshmukh is contesting the upcoming assembly polls from Latur, his father’s bastion, against Annarao Patil who is a Third Front candidate.

Earlier, congress MP Sanjay Nirupam and party candidate Bharat Parekh were arrested by Bombay police and later released on bail under charges of unlawful assembly and rioting at Charkop in suburban Kandivali.

Last night, a fight broke out between Congress workers and activists of other political outfits, who were objecting to Nirupam and Parekhs’s presence at the Laljipada slums in Charkop post midnight.

According to activists of MNS and BJP, the two leaders doled out cash and liquor to the residents Wednesday night.

Nirupam, however, refuted the allegations saying that he had visited the slums after receiving information that certain leaders of other parties threatened people and asked them to vote against Parekh, who is contesting from the Charkop assembly constituency.

Nirupam and Parekh were arrested by the Charkop police and were later released after furnishing a cash surety of Rs 950.