With the district administration blocking entry of two Maharashtra Ministers belonging to the Shiv Sena from entering Belagavi district, only local Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) leaders participated in a protest rally here on Thursday.
The rally was held to condemn Urban Development Minister Roshan Baig’s recent statement that elected representatives raising slogans in favour of Maharashtra here would face action, including disqualification.
On Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram issued orders prohibiting the entry of the two Maharashtra leaders — Transport Minister Diwakar Raote and Health and Family Welfare Minister Deepak Sawant — into Belagavi district. On Thursday morning, these leaders came till Kugnolli check-post and returned after police officers informed them about the order.
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Slogans raised
MES members gathered at Dharam Veer Sambhaji Chowk and marched to the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
They shouted slogans against Mr. Baig and Mr. Jayaram. Most of them raised slogans such as ‘Jai Maharashtra’. Local legislators, zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat members, city corporation and city municipal council members, and activists, a large number of them women, joined the rally. The leaders submitted to the government, through the DC’s office, a memorandum demanding fair price for farm produce and early resolution of river water sharing disputes, among other issues. Sambhaji Patil and Arvind Patil, MLAs, addressed the rally and both of them raised ‘Jai Maharashtra’ slogan.
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Meanwhile, the Belagavi police filed cases against around 300 MES members, including Mr. Arvind Patil, Mr. Sambhaji Patil, the former MLA Manohar Kinekar and MES president Deepak Dalavi, for violating conditions imposed by the district administration for organising the rally and for making provocative speeches.