Ajit Pawar pulls up cops for questioning scribes covering Halla Bol

Aurangabad : The much anticipated second phase of Halla Bol, a campaign against the government which the Nationalist Congress Party had undertaken across Marathwada, culminated at Aurangabad with a huge rally.

Just before party president Sharad Pawar addressed the workers, the former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and NCP leader Ajit Pawar pulled up police for enquiring journalists covering the campaign.

During his speech, Pawar came up strongly against the police for trying to inquire into the details of the journalists.

The government had initially underestimated the number of participants and even any impact the Halla Bol campaign could have made on the Devendra Fadnavis led government. In fact the BJP had even sent some of their local workers and few words were exchanged as many NCP workers felt they had come to disrupt the rally.

When Ajit Pawar was informed about the police questioning of the journalists present, he questioned the police and pointed out they were behaving within their jurisdiction. “Let the journalists do their work and you diligently do yours of ensuring security in this area,” he told the police.

“It is baffling that the government has begun sending police during important events like rallies and press conferences to find out which journalist from which media has come to cover. New tactics they are using. Till now they tried to manipulate the media, now it is not working,” said Nawab Malik, the national spokesperson of NCP.