Man held for bid to hurl slipper at Chavan

Alert security personnel helped abort an attempt by an activist to target Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan with a slipper at a public meeting Sunday in this temple town, an official said.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when Chavan was addressing a meeting of the Sitaram Maharaj Sugar Cooperative in Solapur district.

Shortly after Chavan's speech started, a man - later identified as Mahesh Kedar - suddenly started shouting slogans demanding better remunerative prices for sugarcane growers.

"While shouting slogans, he also took out a slipper from his foot and aimed to throw it towards the dais, but even before he could throw it, the chief minister's personal security personnel pounced on him. Later, he was taken away by police and the meeting proceeded unhindered," an official from the CMO said.

Kedar, who is at present under detention by police in Solapur, is said to be a farmer activist belonging to a local union.

Anticipating disturbances by farmer groups, police had deployed tight security at Chavan's meeting venue, but Kedar's act apparently caught them unawares as he approached the dais from the media enclosure.

An unperturbed Chavan continued with his speech and later left for Nagpur for a scheduled engagement, the official said.