Amravati:

Chairs were thrown and threat slogans raised as a mob attacked a rally by BJP leader and former MP Navneet Rana at Maharashtra’s Amravati last night. A police case has been registered and cops have asked people not to believe in rumours.

Visuals showed Ms Rana surrounded by her supporters as a group of people throw chairs at a rally in Khallar village. In one video, she is seen moving towards the mob, apparently asking them to go away. Then some people start throwing chairs targeting her. The former MP’s security personnel are seen trying to shield her.

Following the incident, the former MP reached the police station and demanded that the troublemakers be arrested. Police have registered a case against unidentified people and deployed force at the village. “We were campaigning peacefully in Khallar. But during my speech, some people started making lewd gestures and hooting. I did not react. Then they started raising Allahu Akbar slogans. When party supporters asked them not to use slangs for me, they started throwing chairs,” Ms Rana told the media.

“I was accompanied by mediapersons, but their anger was directed at me. They started throwing chairs and verbally abusing me. Some of the party functionaries with me were injured. It is clearly seen in the video. The six security personnel with me saved me. I was spat on, but it fell on the uniform of a security personnel. We have filed a complaint. If no one is arrested soon, the whole Hindu community of Amravati will gather here,” the BJP leader said.

Kiran Wankhade, Inspector of the crime branch in Amravati Rural, said Ms Rana was in Khallar village to campaign for Ramesh Bundile, the BJP candidate from Daryapur, ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra state polls. “During the rally, a dispute broke out between two groups. We have registered a case on the complaint of Navneet Rana. The situation is now under control. A police checkpoint has been set up in the village. We request the citizens to not believe in any kind of rumours. Further investigation is underway,” he said.

A former actor, Ms Rana represented Amravati Lok Sabha seat as an Independent MP from 2019 to 2024. She joined the BJP earlier this year, and lost the general election. She is married to Ravi Rana, MLA from Maharashtra’s Badnera seat. Ms Rana was earlier with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

Ms Rana had earlier made headlines in 2022 when she and her husband were arrested following the announcement that they will recite Hanuman Chalisa in front of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. Earlier this year, in the run-up to the general election, she had made a controversial speech in Hyderabad. Referring to a 2013 speech by AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, she had said, “The younger brother said, ‘Remove police for 15 minutes so we can show what we can do’. I want to tell him, ‘It might take you 15 minutes… but it will only take us 15 seconds… ” She had also said that Madhavi Latha, the BJP candidate from Hyderabad, would stop the city “from turning into Pakistan”. The comments had drawn a sharp response from AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who later defeated Ms Latha to win the seat.