NCP's Rupali Thombare warns Murlidhar Mohol over Shivaji photo beside Hedgewar on RSS banner

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh held various events in Pune and across the country on Dussehra. In Nagpur, the Vijayadashami festival was held, with Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat as chief guest. Swayamsevaks of the Sangh also held route marches in several other cities.

Several BJP ministers had put up banners for the Sangh's events. In Pune, Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol also put up such banners. On them, photographs of Hedgewar and Golwalkar appeared next to a photograph of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Rupali Thombare, a leader of Sunetra Pawar's NCP, objected to this and issued a stern warning to Mohol over the banner.

Expressing displeasure over the banner, Rupali Patil Thombare said: "I publicly condemn MP Murlidhar Mohol. You have no right to put Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's photograph alongside Hedgewar and Golwalkar. Nobody has the right to insult Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Why do you keep doing it? If you insult Maharaj, we will not let you off. If BJP representatives have brains and are educated, they should wake up and make sure Shivaji Maharaj is not insulted. If this care is not taken, we will have to respond in a different way."

Thombare also spoke about the treatment the NCP receives from the BJP. She said: "The treatment we have been getting from the BJP since the time of Ajit Pawar is no secret. We have repeatedly told party leaders Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar about this treatment."

Referring to the Someshwar election, Thombare said: "The man whom Ajit Pawar trusted for thirteen years and gave the factory to run is now forming a separate panel. If the BJP is helping him, the public has faced all this and shown him his worth."

She did not hide her displeasure over the graduates' and teachers' constituency elections either. She said: "If you field a candidate in the graduates' constituency without consulting us and impose that candidate on us, and keep treating us this way, there is still regret in our minds about those with whom we sit as allies."