Karnataka CM Bommai had earlier said that the border row has become a political tool in Maharashtra, and any party in power will raise the issue for political purposes. My government is capable to protect the borders of Karnataka and has taken steps also, Bommai had said.

Mumbai Aug 24 PTI Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey on Tuesday issued orders for the immediate arrest of Union minister Narayan Rane after an FIR was registered against him in the north Maharashtra city over his remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Accordingly a team of Nashik Police left in the morning for Ratnagiri district where Rane is currently carrying out his Jan Ashirwad Yatra an official said Rane had sparked off a row over his remarks about slapping Chief Minister Thackeray for what he claimed as the latters ignorance of the year of Indias independence It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech Had I been there I would have given him a tight slap Rane said during his Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Raigad district on Monday The BJP leader and former Shiv Sena chief minister claimed Thackeray forgot the year of independence during his August 15 address to the people of the state Thackeray had to check the year of independence with his aides midway during the speech that day Rane said Following his remarks a complaint was lodged against Rane by Nashik city Shiv Sena unit chief at the Cyber police station there Based on the complaint an FIR was registered against Rane in Nashik under IPC sections 500 defamation 5052 mischief 153-B 1c remarks likely to cause disharmony or feeling of enmity or hatred or ill-will a police official said Considering the law and order situation across the state and in Nashik in the wake of Ranes remarks Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey ordered an investigation into the matter and immediate arrest of the Union minister Accordingly a team led by Nashik DCP crime Sanjay Barkund and comprising police inspector Ananda Wagh and other officers was formed and it rushed to Chiplun in Ratnagiri to arrest Rane the official said The team was asked to arrest Rane and produce him before a court in Nashik the official said adding the team was also directed to follow the due procedure for arresting the Union minister We are going by the facts of the case after the registration of an offence against Rane We are following the rule of law Pandey said adding the arrest was needed to prevent the repetition of such an offence The Union minister will be arrested in the case and produced before a court and further action will be taken according to orders of the court the police commissioner said After Ranes arrest Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will be informed as the Union minister is a member of the Rajya Sabha the official said While arresting Rane police will follow all protocols with regard to a Union minister he said adding all his privileges as Union minister will be considered Whatever he wants to say he can put forth before the court the senior police official said Meanwhile in Aurangabad Shiv Senas spokesperson Ambadas Danve lodged a complaint against Rane at Kranti Chowk police station over the latters remarks against the CM and party workers hit a photo of the Union minister with footwear Talking to reporters after lodging the police complaint Danve said Ranes remarks were objectionable and demanded action against the BJP leader The MLC called Rane a kombdi chor chicken stealer -- a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur five decades ago during his initial stint with the Sena -- a released a couple of hens at the Kranti Chowk square The womens wing of the Shiv Sena will also undertake an agitation in Aurangabad Danve said Earlier Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray used to call Narayan Rane as Naru which is the name of a disease in Marathi The Shiv Sena has a remedy for this disease he said He claimed Rane made the statement to provoke the Shiv Sena The Shiv Sena will protest against Ranes statement through the constitutional process as well as by taking to the streets the MLC said An official at the Kranti Chowk police station in Aurangabad said they have received the Shiv Senas complaint and action will be taken as per the instructions of senior officials PTI DC AW GK GK

Aurangabad Aug 23 PTI Former Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Chandrakant Khaire on Monday said the BJP during its recently concluded Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Aurangabad in Maharashtra had flouted Supreme Court directives on the use of loudspeakers post 10pm Khaire who was MP from here from 1999 till his defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls said at many places the yatra concluded past 10 pm while in Kannad it ended almost half an hour past midnight on August 21 He told PTI that the BJP had also not adhered to COVD-19 norms during the yatra and accused it of wanting a third wave of infections in Maharashtra in order to criticize the state government led by the Shiv Sena Local Shiv Sena MLC Ambadas Danve in a video uploaded on Twitter said the BJP should have held a yatra seeking peoples blessings for price rise of all essential items especially fuel PTI AW BNM BNM BNM