Cong office ransacked by Bhor MLA Sangram Thopte's supporters; 19 held

Pune, Jan 01: Nineteen people were arrested for the attack on the Congress office in Pune by supporters of party MLA Sangram Thopte to protest against his non-inclusion in the Maharashtra ministry, police said on Wednesday.

Thopte's supporters attacked the 'Congress Bhavan', located in Shivajinagar area here, on Tuesday and vandalised the property. They shouted slogans against the Congress leadership for not giving ministerial berth to Thopte, the MLA from Bhor seat here and son of former minister Anantrao Thopte.

The police subsequently arrested 19 supporters of Thopte late Tuesday night and booked them under Indian Penal Code sections for rioting and unlawful assembly, an official at Shivajinagar police station said.

"We arrested 19 people who were involved in rioting, stone-pelting and vandalism at the Congress Bhavan. They were later released on bail," he said, adding that all the IPC sections slapped on the accused were bailable. Party sources said anger has spread among supporters of political families from the Congress after their leaders were not picked for Cabinet berths in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.

Chief Minister Thackeray expanded his month-old ministry on Monday by inducting 36 ministers, taking its total strength to 43. The Shiv Sena, led by Thackeray, joined hands with the Congress and NCP, its traditional adversaries, after its alliance with the BJP collapsed over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post following the state Assembly polls held in October last year.