By IANS,
Pune : Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam Friday termed the ransacking of party mouthpiece Saamna’s office here by the supporters of Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, an act of vandalism and defended a caricature of the minister carried by the newspaper.
Supporters of Rane ransacked the office of Saamna Thursday night after the paper parodied him as a coy Maharashtrian bride wearing a maroon sari and laden with jewellery.
The caricature accompanied a report about a press conference by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, where he compared the minister to a newly wedded bride, who moves to the groom’s home and takes time to adjust to the new environment.
“It was only an illustration of what Deshmukh had said in Delhi, they should have ransacked his home or office because he is the one who has made fun of him as a newly wed bride,” Kadam told reporters here after visiting the newspaper’s office.
Kadam said in the past Saamna had made caricatures of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar but that was never made an issue and “he is a much bigger leader compared to Rane”.
According to Kadam, the police had been informed an hour in advance about the attack but instead personnel were deployed at Rane’s construction sites in the city.
Kadam criticized Rane, who had defected from Shiv Sena to Congress four years back, and said, “He might have joined Congress but he does not have anything Gandhian in him.”