Prakash Ambedkar says Devendra Fadnavis' life in danger, cites Facebook post of Sambhaji Bhide's 'close aide'

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is facing serious threat to his life from certain pro-Hindutva elements, Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh president Prakash Ambedkar claimed on Wednesday. To justify his contention, Ambedkar pointed to a Facebook post of one Raosaheb Patil, who Ambedkar claims is a “close aide” of Sambhaji V Bhide, President of Shri Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan, a pro-Hindutva ultra-rightist outfit from western Maharashtra. [caption id=“attachment_4284393” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Prakash Ambedkar. CNN News18[/caption] Patil’s post at 10.12 pm on 1 January terms Fadnavis, his ministerial colleague Girish Bapat and former journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni as “insects” (keeda) who could be “chopped off”. “If you fall short of figures for Koregaon-Bhima, you are free to chop off Girish Bapat, Devendra Fadnavis, Sudheendra Kulkarni, I shall have no objections. They are insects infesting the country and the state,” Patil’s post said. Incidentally, the post came on the day when Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district was rocked by casteist riots in which a 28-year-old youth from Nanded was killed, Ambedkar told media persons. Working as an “assistant at Balaji Motion Pictures”, he has described himself as a “staunch Shiv Sainik” and follower of the ideologies of late Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Ambedkar, who led a successful Maharashtra shutdown on 3 January that claimed the life of a schoolboy, has consistently targeted Bhide and another pro-Hindutva leader from Pune, Milind Ekbote, for the Koregaon-Bhima riot.