Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday accused the BJP of trying to vitiate atmosphere in the state, where tension prevailed in some districts over social media posts, and claimed the ruling party was busy targeting the Opposition instead of addressing issues faced by people.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, he said the BJP was set to lose in Maharashtra in the next year’s polls and the upcoming visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, considered a key election strategist, to the state will not make any difference to its electoral fortunes.

Shah will address a rally in Nanded city in central Maharashtra on June 10 as part of a special month-long outreach campaign launched by the BJP on completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government.

Besides Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra will see Assembly polls in 2024. To a query on Shah’s Maharashtra tour, Patole said the home minister could not stop violence in Manipur, where he camped for several days, and has failed to address border issues in the North-east.

Patole said the central as well as the Maharashtra governments have failed to address issues like rising inflation, unemployment, poverty and also problems of farmers. The BJP was only busy in election publicity and people were very angry with the saffron outfit, said the Congress leader.

The ruling party was trying to vitiate atmosphere in Maharashtra and targeting Opposition leaders, he said. Patole’s comments came in the backdrop of tension in some districts in the last few days over controversial social media posts. Tension gripped Kolhapur city in western Maharashtra on Tuesday after two men allegedly put 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan’s image along with an offensive audio message as their social media status. The next day, police wielded lathis to disperse hundreds of protesters after they hurled stones during a demonstration against the alleged use of Tipu Sultan’s image. In Ahmednagar, some youths displayed photos of 17th century Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in a procession earlier this week. In Ashti town of Beed district, a teenage boy’s alleged act of putting a social media status message glorifying Aurangzeb triggered tension, with some Hindutva organisations giving a “bandh” call on Friday.

In Ghoti town of Maharashtra’s Nashik district some local residents gathered outside a police station on Thursday evening and sought action against a man over his Facebook post, which they alleged hurt their religious sentiments, police said on Friday.