Mumbai: BJP MP Kirit Somaiya on Thursday alleged that Shiv Sena workers, led by a local leader, tried to kill him “as part of a plan” and urged Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar to “unearth the plot mastermind”.
“The Sena vibhag pramukh has publicly owned up to responsibility for the attack on me and other BJP workers on Tuesday. The Police Commissioner should probe who was the mastermind of the plot to kill me,” he told PTI. “At their Dussehra rally, Sena leaders spoke of surgical strikes if the alliance was broken for the BMC polls. Did they mean this (attempt on my life) by surgical strike,” Somaiya said, without naming Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. At a ‘Ravan dahan’ (Ravan burning) function at suburban Mulund, where Somaiya was present, a scuffle broke out between his partymen and Shiv Sainiks, resulting in injuries to a few.
The BJP MP has been targeting the Shiv Sena over “corruption” in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and at the function, he reportedly described Ravan as the “BMC mafia” which apparently irked the Shiv Sainiks. Somaiya today wrote a letter to the Police Commissioner, in which he alleged that “over a hundred persons in vehicles” were waiting at the venue to launch an attack on him.
“After the Ravan dahan, after most of the BJP activists had left the venue and as I came out to get into my car, they suddenly rushed at me with weapons,” he alleged.
“We thank you for arresting 13 persons who attacked me with weapons,” he added. “It seems, their plan was to kill/incapacitate me to protect their bosses/mafias. It was a well-designed attack of the group/mafias/party,” Somaiya alleged without naming the Sena.
“They waited till the programme got over and all the BJP activists had gone away and attacked me when I was alone,” he added. The BJP leader also thanked the Personal Security Officer (PSO) provided by the Police Commissioner to him, saying he saved his life. “It must be noted that seven BJP activists (including three women), while protecting me, sustained major injuries (fractures) ,” he alleged. (PTI)
