Shiv Sena gets a taste of mob rule, slams Rane

HE ISN'T BLUSHING: Saamna published photo of Rane dressed as a bride.

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Mumbai: The political battle between Maharashtra's Revenue Minister Narayan Rane and the Shiv Sena is now spilling onto the streets.

Angry supporters of Rane burnt effigies of Sena mouthpiece, Saamna in Akola and Nashik. The Saamna office in Pune was also vandalised by a mob claiming to be Rane supporters.

The Sena demanded that Rane be removed from the government. “We request the Chief Minister to address these attacks. Congress president Sonia Gandhi should step in," said Sanjay Raut, Sena MP and the editor of Saamna.

Saamna on Friday published a morphed picture of Rane dressed like a new bride. The paper claimed that Chief Minister Vlisarao Deshmukh had himself described Rane as a newly wed daughter-in-law.

"A newly wed daughter-in-law initially gets frustrated about how things work in the family but eventually she settles down. Rane has also understood how the party works after three years, so he says he's a Congressman," Saamna claimed Desmukh had said.

Rane switched from the Sena to the Congress a few years ago and reportedly has ambitions of getting the top job in the state.

The attack on Saamna comes just a week after a mob attacked and ransacked the house of Kumar Ketkar, editor of the Marathi daily Loksatta.

Ironically, the Saamna in the past has itself spurred attacks by Shiv Sena mobs on critics of the party. Now, the wheel is turning full circle.