MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar welcoming Jeet Arolkar and about 100 of his supporters into the MGP on the road at Mandrem on Monday evening.
PERNEM
Drama prevailed at Mandrem on Monday evening, when authorities reportedly refused permission to businessman Jeet Arolkar and about 100 of his supporters to hold an MGP meeting at Mandrem and they responded by joining the party at a roadside function.
According to reports, Arolkar had requested Pernem Deputy Collector Ravishankar Nipanikar about eight days ago for permission to hold a public meeting at the Mandrem high school ground on Monday at about 3.30 pm.
Nipanikar, however, informed the organisers at the last moment on Monday that he had rejected their request to conduct the meeting.
A police team was present at the site right from 3 pm and refused to allow anyone to enter the ground.
Undeterred, MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar welcomed Arolkar and about 100 of his supporters into the party at a function on the road. They included Mandrem Sarpanch Ambrose Fernandes, panch Asweta Mandrekar, panch Subhash Asolkar, Kishor Naik, Tiracol panch Agnel, former police official Narayan aka Nana Sopte and panch Gunaji Thakur
Those present at the meeting strongly criticised the last-minute denial of permission and asked Pernem Mamledar Gautami Parmekar, and PI Jivba Dalvi if authorities had given permission to the BJP meeting, which was attended by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, about eight days ago.
“The local MLA was scared that Jeet Arolkar would enter the MGP and hence, he got authorities to deny us the permission to have this meeting,” said Devendra Prabhudesai.
MGP leaders claimed they had already sought permission from the Mandrem panchayat and the ground’s officials.
Arolkar had also asked the electricity department’s permission to affix posters on electricity poles. However, electricity department workers removed all posters from the poles.
MGP leader Sudin Dhavlikar also slammed authorities for denying them permission to hold the event.
"I don't understand how authorities can give permission to Narkasur competitions but not to the MGP. When we asked the deputy collector, he said we were denied permission as there were no names of karyakartas on the application. This is not right.”
“In any case, Jeet Arolkar's entry into the MGP is good for the MGP," said Dhavlikar.
Jeet Arolkar also condemned the action by authorities.
"Denying us permission only means that other leaders are already scared. But MGP is only going uphill from here," said Arolkar.
All MGP leaders later garlanded the statue of former chief minister and MGP leader Bhausaheb Bandodkar.
