Morning Pulse: Shots in Juhu become a law-and-order fight on the eve of the Sena rallies

Maharashtra's first Pulse since Friday afternoon opens with gunfire. Shots fired at actor Tiger Shroff's car in Mumbai's Juhu on Sunday evening had, by this morning, turned into the sharpest political quarrel of the week. The opposition says law and order is slipping under a Chief Minister who also holds the Home portfolio. The government says fifteen police teams are on the trail. The row lands a day before the Shiv Sena (UBT) holds its Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park, and on the morning Kolhapur counts votes in a dairy election that has become a test of strength between the Mahayuti and the Congress's Satej Patil.

First, what is known. PTI, carried by ThePrint, reported that gunmen fired near Pushpa Park, within Juhu police station limits. Police said Shroff was not hurt; his driver, Firdaus, and an autorickshaw driver named Chauhan were injured. Scroll, citing The Hindu, put the time at about 7 pm, as he left a football ground. Zee 24 Taas reported that Juhu police have registered a case against three unknown persons. TV9 Marathi said the case has gone to the Crime Branch, that his BMW is in police custody after forensic checks, and that the attackers' motorcycle was found near Andheri station, registered to a third owner.

Several details do not yet agree. TV9 Marathi counted three to four shots, Navarashtra about ten, and Pudhari quoted Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as saying five. Scroll noted that police said Shroff had no gunshot injuries, but that video of Shinde's visit showed him bandaged; Pudhari reported Shinde as saying glass fragments cut his hand. Zee 24 Taas and PTI reported that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility on social media. Police have not verified that claim, and Scroll said DCP Mohit Garg declined to comment on it.

The government moved quickly to be seen. According to PTI, Devendra Fadnavis phoned Shroff on Sunday, sought details from Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti and asked for a quick arrest. Shinde went to the actor's home that night, condemned the attack and, Scroll reported, said the state would assess threats to other celebrities. Pudhari reported that he urged artists to report threatening calls to the police at once.

The opposition was quicker still. Congress state president Harshwardhan Sapkal called it "jungle raj" and asked Fadnavis to resign on moral grounds, PTI reported. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad sought a separate Home Minister. NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar tied the shooting to the recent killing of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Pradeep Purnekar in Thane and said the portfolio should go to a "competent minister". In the reports we read, the BJP had not answered the resignation demand beyond the Chief Minister's assurances.

That argument now walks into Dussehra. The Shiv Sena (UBT) will hold its rally at Shivaji Park at 5 pm on Tuesday, with the protection of the Constitution as its theme, the Free Press Journal reported on Sunday. TV9 Marathi reported this morning that rival banners have gone up near Matoshree, the Shinde side's promising Shiv Sainiks on the farm bunds with saffron on their shoulders, the Thackeray side's offering the flaming torch "for Maharashtra" and the Constitution.

In Kolhapur, counting for the Gokul milk union began at 8 am, Zee 24 Taas and Navarashtra reported. Fifty candidates are in the fray for 25 director seats. Ministers Hasan Mushrif and Chandrakant Patil and MP Dhananjay Mahadik lead one side; Satej Patil leads the other. Nearly all of the roughly 5,400 voting delegates cast ballots, though reports differ on the exact turnout. No result had been declared at the time of writing.

On the voter rolls, the Deccan Chronicle reported late on Sunday that the state's Chief Electoral Officer has asked the Election Commission to amend Form 6, and Navarashtra carried the same this morning. The aim is to let voters dropped during the Special Intensive Revision re-enrol without declaring themselves first-time voters, a declaration officials say many fear because a false one can bring a year in prison. Officials told the paper that any change would need the Centre to amend the 1960 electoral rules.

Two loops from Friday stay open. The Pune teachers' seat, where Shinde's Sena backs independent Sachin Sanap against the BJP's Kaustubh Gawade, votes on Friday, 23 October, with counting on 27 October, IANS reported last week. And the drought keeps biting: TV9 Marathi reported that a farmer in Jalna's Ambad taluka cut down his two-acre sweet lime orchard after two months without rain.