Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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| NCP and BJP MLAs face to face |
VIDHAN Bhavan premises on Friday witnessed war of words between political opponents, heavy sloganeering and use of oibjectionable words, leading to a situation where NCP and Opposition MLAs came face-to-face. Timely intervention by security staff and senior legislators avoided any untoward incident. NCP legislators including Jitendra Awhad, Rajendra Jain adopted aggressive posture from Friday morning and staged a sit-in near Vidhan Sabha staircase demanding immediate discussion on irrigation and other pressing issues.
They denounced Opposition for stalling proceedings of the House for past four days and were peeved at their leader Ajit Pawar being targetted by Opposition members. They shouted slogans in support of Ajit Pawar and condemned his opponents. Home Minister R R Patil also joined the agitation. State President of NCP Madhukarrao Pichad pacified agitated members of the party.
By 10.45 am, when Opposition MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse walked towards Assembly, the slogans became somewhat nasty. NCP legislators flayed Khadse and demanded his inquiry. The ruling alliance legislators shouted slogans like ‘Chor Ala Re Chor Ala’ (Thief has arrived) and Sena-BJP Chor Hai (Sena and BJP are thieves) against Eknath Khadse and BJP-Sena members.
The Opposition legislators quickly launched a counter-attack. This personal attack infuriated them and they retaliated by saying ‘Gali Gali Me Shor Hain, Ajit Pawar Chor Hain.’ Very soon, they outnumbered NCP legislators and tit-for-tat sloganeering continued for quite some time in full public view. This was too juicy a visual for electronic media, which happily recorded this unparliamentary behaviour of legislators from both the sides which lasted till security personnel rushed to keep both sides at bay.
Infact senior legislators from both sides were quite tense after witnessing over-enthusiasm of young brigade which could have resulted in jostling of other side and may have spoiled image of Maharashtra legislature. State President of BJP Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the party would not allow proceeding of House till announcement of Special Investigation Team (SIT). “I will apologise to the House if ministers of Democratic Front (DF) Government are found not guilty in SIT probe,” he said.
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