‘Make snake threat recording public’

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday slam-med revenue minister Chandrakant Patil for making provocative statements against Maratha protesters. Mr Patil has claimed that the state government has audio recordings of a ‘powerful’ state politician who talked about ‘releasing snakes during Pandharpur prayer meeting’.

Mr Pawar has challenged Mr Patil to make the recording public and has further demanded the amendment in Constitution to accommodate Maratha community in the policy of reservation.

“Chief minister Deven-dra Fadnavis could not keep his promise of granting reservation to Mara-tha community. In addition to that, Mr Patil made provocative statements, which enraged people. This was the reason why the otherwise peaceful Ma-ratha protest turned violent,” alleged Mr Pawar in Kolhapur on Saturday.

The NCP chief met Maratha protesters sitting on agitation in Kolhapur. While addressing them, he appealed to maintain pea-ce in Maharashtra and cle-ared that if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brou-ght the issue in Parlia-ment, he is ready to take lead for wider cooperation. “They have majority in Lok Sabha. Let them take lead there then I will see wide consultation and agr-eement in Rajya Sabha,” said Mr Pawar.  He also said that BJP should push for Constitutional amendment to clear Maratha res-ervation.

Mr Pawar also challenged Mr Patil to declare the name of the leader who talked about ‘releasing snakes during Pand-harpur prayer meeting’. Earlier, Mr Fadnavis had claimed that anti-social elements were planning to release snakes in Pandh-arpur to cause harm to pilgrims. Mr Patil later claimed government has recordings of powerful leaders making claims. “If you have audio recording then make it public. Name the people,” he challenged.