Mumbai: NCP MLA Jayant Patil attacked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the violence at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1, holding him responsible for it. Mr Patil questioned whether the government was interested in it? Leaders from the Congress, NCP and other opposition parties, too, slammed the government for protecting right-wing leader Sambhaji Bhide, who allegedly incited the violence; and demanded his immediate arrest.  

The opposition pointed out alleged lapses in maintaining law and order issues and controlling the crime rate across the state when the violence occurred. Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde and others in the Council slammed the government. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and other opposition leaders attacked the government. Mr Patil claimed, “Not a single minister visited Bhima-Koregaon after the violence. Did they know about the incident or was it simply ignored? Or was the government interested in inciting violence?” Interestingly, Mr Patil who is also from Mr Bhide’s hometown, Sangli, did not demand the latter’s arrest.