Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole escaped unhurt after a speeding truck rammed into the car in which he was returning to his base camp after addressing an election rally in Bhandara district of eastern Maharashtra late on Tuesday night.

Talking to media persons on Wednesday, Patole said that the speeding truck attempted to overtake his car which swerved to avoid it near Bhilewada, en route to Sukli village

“Though car my driver tried hard to avoid a collision, the truck grazed my vehicle.  To avoid mishap my driver drove the car off the road and managed to bring it to a halt in the darkness,” Patole said.

Though Patole and his driver managed to come out of the vehicle unhurt, the vehicle was badly damaged. Later on Wednesday morning,  the local police visited to the mishap site, carried out a panchnama, seized the truck and started an investigation into the matter.

On his part,  Patole expressed serious doubts if the mishap was genuine or was there any conspiracy behind it. “We have lodged a complaint with the police. We have asked the police   to investigate and ascertain if it was a genuine mishap or was there any conspiracy behind the crash. We are not sure if the truck driver was under the influence of alcohol and if he had dozed off at the wheel,”  Patole said,

In a related development, the Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday demanded enhanced security cover for its important leaders during the ongoing electioneering for the Lok Sabha polls.

In a letter written to Maharashtra’s Director-General of Police Rashmi Shukla and the Election Commission of India ( ECI), State Congress’ chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe sought  a detailed inquiry into the matter to ascertain whether it was a ‘conspiracy’ to eliminate Patole.

Londe urged the DGP and ECI to provide for tight security for important Congress leaders  like the Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Legislative Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan and others.