By IANS,
Nagpur : Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray’s pre-dawn arrest in Ratnagiri evoked an instant reaction in Nagpur, with party workers targeting state transport buses at several places.
Describing Thackeray’s arrest as a cowardly act, MNS city unit chief Hemant Gadkari told IANS that about 100 young party workers grouped in four motorcycle squads fanned out to different parts of the city to register their protest.
“The workers have so far stoned state transport buses at four city points, including Cotton Market square, Abhyankar Nagar, LIT (Laxminarayan Institute of Technology) gate and Pratap Nagar after stopping them and requesting the commuters to get down,” Gadkari said.
Nagpur Joint Commissioner of Police B.J. Kangale confirmed the MNS action in Abhyankar Nagar, but not in the other places.
“No arrests could be made as the men fled the spot after stoning the bus,” he said, adding that police have been deployed at strategic points all over city to prevent more such incidents.
He also said that while Monday’s arrest of over 15 MNS workers in the city was of preventive nature, the arrests Tuesday would be substantive, making it difficult for the vandals to get bail.
Gadkari said the party workers’ protest will continue till Thackeray, who was expected to be produced in a court in Mumbai’s Bandra suburb later Monday, got bail.
Thackeray’s arrest triggered violence in many other parts in the state. MNS workers stoned at least eight municipal corporation buses in Pune and Kothrud and a state transport bus in Panvel near Mumbai apart from resorting to similar acts in Nashik, Aurangabad, Beed and several towns in Vidarbha.