Oppn demands Fadnavis' resignation after Sena-UBT leader killed

The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party group under Sharad Pawar on Friday demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the murder of Sena-UBT leader Abhishek Ghosalkar during a 'Facebook Live'.

In a post on X, Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut said mobsters were ruling Maharashtra.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde meets mobsters and welcomes them into his party, the Rajya Sabha member alleged.

"The home minister is absent. The state is in the clutches of mobsters," he further said, demanding Fadnavis' resignation.

Sena-UBT leader and former state minister Aaditya Thackeray said he met Abhishek earlier in the evening.

There was no fear of law in the state, he said, reacting to the incident.

"If this is the case, then who is secure in Maharashtra," Aaditya asked.

Clyde Crasto, national spokesperson of Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, said the law and order situation has gone out of control in Maharashtra.

"Be it Nagpur where ‘goondas' are having their say, Pune where the ‘koita gang' is creating havoc every now and then, Ulhasnagar where an MLA fearlessly uses a police station to settle his score with an enemy and now, a young man, ex-corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar, was shot dead by a criminal without fear of law," Crasto said.

Ghosalkar was shot dead during an FB Live at the office of local 'social activist' Mauris Noronha in IC Colony in Mumbai's northern suburb of Borivali (West) on Thursday evening.

After pumping bullets into Ghosalkar, Noronha also killed himself on the spot.

Last week, a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA shot at a local leader of Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, inside a police station in Ulhasnagar in Thane district.

"All this proves that Home Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Devendra Fadnavis, has failed in his job and must resign immediately," Crasto said.

The opposition leader said CM Shinde must take immediate cognisance of this situation as he too is responsible for the safety of the people and is answerable for any lawlessness.