Twitter
Advertisement

CM swings into damage control sensing trouble

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday clarified that his remarks on the Vidharba cotton farmers were quoted out of context.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday clarified that his remarks on the Vidharba cotton farmers were quoted out of context. However, Deshmukh’s clarification came almost 48 hours after the Sena, BJP and also a large section within the Congress raised serious objections to his ridiculing the farmers.      

Union textile minister Shankersinh Vaghela, who along with the CM attended the function of the Cotton Federation at Akola, had described the Vidarbha farmers as lazy as opposed to their counterparts in Gujarat.

In a reply to Vaghela’s remarks, Deshmukh joked saying that the Vidarbha farmers also experimented by adding water to cotton so that it became heavier on the weighing scale.

However, Deshmukh’s comments were not taken lightly even by dissidents within the Congress, who complained about the chief minister’s insensitivity to Sonia Gandhi and other top All India Congress Committee (AICC) officials.

Deshmukh, who was in the capital, met AICC officials to explain his version on the controversy. A close aide of Deshmukh said, “The damage control exercise was inevitable to avoid dissidents within the party from getting away with exaggerated versions against him.”

However, every attempt to settle scores with Deshmukh continued on Tuesday. Revenue minister Narayan Rane rushed to Delhi to explain his view point to party leaders at the Centre. On September 14, MPCC president Prabha Rau will lead a 90 member delegation to meet President Pratibha Patil and high command Sonia Gandhi. “It is a show of strength to display her command over the state unit,” said a Congress official.

Meanwhile, State BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that the party cadres will gherao and stage dharnas against Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and union minister for Textiles Shankersinh Vaghela if they did not apologise for their remarks on the Vidharba farmers. Gadkari and BJP’s leader of opposition in legislative council, Pandurang Phundkar have demanded an unconditional apology within two days.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement