BARAMATI: The incident of slapping of Union Agriculture Minister and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Thursday in New Delhi reverberated across Maharashtra, specially in his hometown Baramati, with normal life hit throughout the state, owing to ‘Rasta Roko’s (road blockades) staged by NCP workers.
The vehicular traffic on all major highways has been totally paralyzed after the party workers took to the streets condemning the incident and called for a bandh, despite Mr Pawar himself, his daughter Supriya Sule, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and other party leaders advised to maintain peace and not resort to any action.
The villagers of Baramati staged a ‘rasta roko’ on the Pune-Baramati road and even resorted to stone throwing.
The party workers also staged agitations on the road demanding that culprit should be given maximum punsishment.
The alleged incident took place in Delhi where a youth Harvinder Singh slapped the 73-year-old NCP supremo in public view.
The youth was later arrested. But, the incident sparked a wave of demonstrations like ‘rasta roko’, stone throwing at the vehicules and call for bandhs by the NCP party activists.
Mr Pawar immediately after the incident pardoned the youth for his anger and appealed the party workers not to take the law in their hands and create untoward difficulty for the general public.
His nephew Ajit Pawar also requested his party workers to observe calm and patience, and not to create any inconvenience for the common people.
He also urged the workers not to indulge in ‘rasta roko’ or stone throwing to give vent to their feelings.
Meanwhile, Pune Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal has announced a ‘bandh’ in the city to protest the sordid incident.
The NCP party workers, however, went on a rampage on Pune-Solapur and Pune-Bangalore Highways by pelting stones at the vehicles this afternoon.
According to reports reaching here from the neighbouring district of Osmanabad, the NCP workers damaged two state transport buses in stone pelting incidents.
While, in Satara district the sporadic incidents of stone pelting and rasta roko were reported, police said.
NCP spokes-person Ankush Kakade said there was some conspi-racy behind the incident, which should be properly investiga-ted. (UNI)