A major political slugfest broke out in Maharashtra on Friday over the security breach involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi during visit to Punjab, as Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole asked the BJP workers to stage a protest outside Amit Shah’s residence in New Delhi and the Opposition BJP retaliated by demanding that an offence be registered against Patole for turning needle of suspicion towards the Union Home Minister and trying to influence the ongoing probe into the security breach.
Away from the national capital, a fierce war of words erupted between the ruling Congress and the Opposition, as Patole – two days after he created a sensation by charging that Modi was reaping what he sowed when his government “inflicted” a lot of atrocities on the farmers last year –upped the ante by charging that the BJP had “pre-planned” the incident of security breach to “improve” Modi’s image which got tarnished during the farmers’ protests last year.
Talking to media persons at the state party headquarters “Tilak Bhavan” here, Patole said: “The security lapse involving Modi was a pre-planned move. Why did the Prime Minister change his journey plan suddenly? What was the motive behind it? The Prime Minister’s “I made it back safely” statement, a series of statements made by the BJP leaders subsequently and the PM’s meeting with the President, all these make it very clear that the BJP had pre-planned the whole thing to improve Modi’s image that got tarnished during the farmers’ protests. But, the BJP has backfired on itself”.
Shortly after Patole spoke to the media, State BJP president Chandrakant Patil charged that at a time when the security breach involving the Prime Minister was being investigated, Patole had – by way of expressing his suspicion about the Union Home Minister’s role in the incident –had tried to interfere and influence the ongoing probe. “Keeping Patole’s unwarranted act in mind, we demand that an offence be registered against him. I have asked the BJP workers to register complaints against Patole for misleading the people on the issue of national security,” Patil said.
Earlier, Patole said that the Prime Minister belonged to the country and his security was of utmost importance. “There should be no compromise on his safety. Punjab Chief Minister Channi has spoken in detail on the incident but the BJP is deliberately trying to defame the Congress by giving it political colour. The BJP has also made this incident into an event”.
Exhorting the BJP workers to stage a protest in front of the Union Home Minister’s residence and demand his explanation over the incident, Patole said: “The security of the Prime Minister is with the SPG and many important central agencies are involved in it and the BJP workers should protest outside union home minister Amit Shah's house and seek his reply in the incident. Yesterday, even we had demanded that Amit Shah should make a statement in this regard, but Shah and the Home Ministry are still silent on the issue”.
“The people who went near Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy were Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists, videos of which have been shown by the media. Announcements of Narendra Modi Zindabad can be clearly heard in the videos. The statement made by a Union Minister that a stone was thrown at the Prime Minister's convoy is ridiculous,” the State Congress chief said.
In his interaction with the media, State BJP president Patil alleged that the security breach was of serious nature since it happened near the border of Pakistan. “From the looks of it, there appears to be a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister. Given the national security, the incident is being investigated at the top-most level. That being the case, Patole is trying to mislead the people. The fact that he has alleged the Union Home Minister has a hand in the security breach incident. This kind of an allegation seeks to influence and derail the ongoing probe”.
“I condemn the efforts by Patole to influence and derail the ongoing probe into the Prime Minister’s security breach. I demand that action be taken against Patole. The police should also probe if Patole has any information about the assassination attempt on the Prime Minister,” the state BJP president added.
Patole, it may be recalled, had on Wednesday slammed the BJP for giving a “political twist” to the incidents of farmers blocking Narendra Modi's convoy during his visit to Punjab and said that the Prime Minister was reaping what he sowed last year when his government “inflicted” a lot of atrocities on the farmers by among other things “laying nails on their route and beating them mercilessly”.
In a statement issued here over the BJP’s reaction over what he called the BJP’s attempts to politicise the issue of farmers blocking the Prime Minister’s convoy to “misguide” the people on the issue of security in an effort to “gain sympathy” ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, Patole had said: “The atrocities have not been forgotten by the farmers in Punjab and across the country. Modiji, you are reaping what you have sown”.
“The Prime Minister has SPG security. There is no question of compromising his security. He was scheduled to reach the rally spot by helicopter, but suddenly he changed his route and took the road to reach the location,” Patole had said.