Fadnavis accuses Satish Jarkiholi of insulting Maratha icon Sambhaji Maharaj

BELAGAVI: Days after KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi withdrew his statement on the origin of the word Hindu after coming under fire from various quarters, he courted another controversy on Friday.

His statement at the same programme at Nipani that Sambhaji Maharaj was handed over to the British instead of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb has been criticised widely on social media and some sections of media.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis tweeted a video of Satish’s speech referring to the arrest and killing of Sambhaji Maharaj.

“Mr @RahulGandhi, do you agree with this nonsensical, misleading, insulting lie spewed out by your party’s MLA about the great Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj? Is this your Congress party’s official statement? Maharashtra will not tolerate this!,” read the tweet.

In the video posted, Satish said Sambhaji Maharaj was caught by the British and killed for punishing those who tried to poison Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Satish has clarified on the fresh controversy, saying that attempts are being made to needlessly target him without any logical reason. “I was trying to recall historical facts about who handed over Sambhaji Maharaj to Aurangzeb.

But inadvertently, I said it was the British instead of Aurangzeb,’’ he said. He said his objective was to inform the people about who cheated Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and who killed Sambhaji Maharaj. “Attempts are being made to defame and target me on this issue in some sections of media and social networking sites to politicise the issue,’’ he said.