Pune (Maharashtra): At the party’s Shiv Swarajya Yatra (SSY) inauguration here on Friday morning, a crane trolley carrying several senior NCP(SP) leaders broke midair, causing tense moments. However, the trolley was gently brought down, averting a potential disaster.
The incident happened when a massive statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at his birthplace, the historic Shivneri Fort, was being garlanded by local MP Amol Kolhe, state president of the NCP(SP), state president Jayant R Patil, president of Maharashtra’s Women’s Wing, president of the state Youth Wing, and president Rohini Khadse.
The four leaders on the trolley nearly collapsed into a heap inside the vehicle as it abruptly snapped and tipped to one side at a perilous angle after the garlanding.
The folks below held their breath as the crane operator slowed the fall and, with the trolley hanging dangerously, gently brought it down to safety in a matter of minutes while they stood up and tried to balance by hugging each other.
The big assembly of NCP(SP) activists let out a sigh of relief at their leaders’ fortunate escape from an impending catastrophe. All of the leaders were shocked but unharmed.
Later, Patil and other leaders performed a puja to the accompaniment of the blaring ‘tutari’ (trumpeter is the party’s poll symbol) and launched the SSY, promising to end injustice to the people and bring back the rule of the ryots in the October Assembly elections.
“We shall expose the black deeds of the Mahayuti government before the masses during the SSY, which will traverse around the state from today,” thundered Patil, kick-starting the party’s poll campaign via the mass outreach programme.
Over the next few days, the SSY will encounter thousands of people and party members in cities, towns, villages, and hamlets throughout the state as it travels through the coastal Konkan, western Maharashtra, Marathwada, northern Maharashtra, and Vidarbha.
“We chose August 9 as this was the day when the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, gave the clarion call to the British to ‘Quit India’ from the August Kranti Maidan. It is also celebrated as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous (Tribals) People,” said Patil, explaining the symbolic importance of the launch date.
He said during the SSY journey to the remotest corners, the NCP (SP) leaders and workers would seek the blessings of the people to give them a fresh mandate to run the state on the ideals of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other great icons like Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and Dr BR Ambedkar.
NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar, Rajya Sabha MP and Working President Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha MP, are currently busy with the Monsoon Session of Parliament and will join the SSY at a later stage, he said.
However, other top leaders, including National General Secretary Jitendra Awhad, legislators, state, regional and district-level party leaders and grassroots activists will participate in different regions, with the likelihood of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) local leaders from Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) participating.
–IANS
