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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the alleged derogatory word used by his cabinet colleague and state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar was ”wrong” and it cannot be defended even as protests against Sattar continued on the second consecutive day.
He also said a "code of conduct" should be followed by "both sides", apparently referring to the Opposition which has been criticising leaders of the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state on various issues.
”What Abdul Sattar said was wrong and cannot be defended at all. We will always oppose the use of such language. But there should also be a code of conduct which will be applicable to both sides. I do not want to go into details,” he told reporters.
Fadnavis said the use of words like "khokhe" and other terms used (against the Shinde-BJP government) is also wrong.
"The decorum of political discourse should be maintained at a higher level. The level of politics is falling in the state. Seniors in all the parties should warn their party workers about the use of language,” the senior BJP leader said.
Sattar on Monday stoked a major row with his alleged objectionable remarks against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule, which evoked strong reactions including protests from the party workers in various cities.
Facing flak, Sattar told a rally in Sillod on Monday that he has apologised for the word used by him.
Sattar, who belongs to 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, said he did not make any remarks against women.
The Sillod MLA had allegedly used the derogatory word referring to Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar when reporters asked him about "khoke" (boxes of money) jibe.
Leaders of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) often taunt the MLAs loyal to Eknath Shinde with the "50 khoke" jibe implying a purported exchange of money when they revolted against Shiv Sena leadership.
Maharashtra minister and spokesperson for the Eknath Shinde camp of Shiv Sena, Deepak Kesarkar, had also apologised for Sattar's comments.
Meanwhile, protests against Sattar continued in various parts of the state for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.
Activists of NCP staged agitations at Nagpur, Pune, Jalgaon, Nashik, Amravati, Jalna, Latur, Ratnagiri, Baramati and Nandurbar demanding the sacking of Sattar from the cabinet.
In Nashik city, NCP supporters beat the effigy of the minister with footwear and shouted slogans against him.
A similar agitation was held in Latur city in Marathwada, where NCP workers placed Sattar's effigy on a donkey. They later burnt the effigy.
NCP workers burnt tyres on the Pune-Nashik highway, while in Baramati, the Lok Sabha constituency of Supriya Sule, they hanged the minister's photograph around a donkey's neck.