MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MLA representing Buldhana assembly segment, Sanjay Gaikwad has stirred a fresh controversy, this time, by targeting South Indians.He said on Thursday that South Indians “run dance bars and ladies bars” hence they should not be awarded food supply contracts in Maharashtra.”Why was a contractor named Shetty given the contract? Give it to a Marathi person. They know what we eat and will give us good quality food. South Indians run dance bars, ladies bars and spoil Maharashtra’s culture. They have corrupted our children. How will they serve good food?” Gaikwad, the Maharahtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLA said.On Tuesday evening, furious at being served “rotten” dal and rice, Sanjay Gaikwad assaulted a canteen staffer at the MLAs’ hostel in Colaba and manhandled another.A video of Gaikwad hitting and punching the canteen staffer had gone viral on Wednesday drawing condemnation from the opposition.Sanjay Gaikwad is second time MLA from Buldhan state assembly constituency in Maharashtra. Gaikwad got elected in 2019 against the Congress candidate Harshvardhan Sapkal who is presently president of Maharashtra Congress party. In 2024, Gaikwad won the state assembly elections against Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Jayshree Shelke by 841 votes in Buldhana where Prakash Ambedkar led Vanchit Aghadi candidate bagged 7146 votes.In the past too, Gaikwad had stoked several controversies. In September 2024, he announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for chopping Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tongue for comments made during his US visit on reservation system. An FIR was registered against Gaikwad following his announcement.
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