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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| Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan lighting traditional lamp to inaugurate booth level agents convention of Ramtek parliamentary constituency as (L to R) Shivajirao Moghe, Sunita Gawande, Ranjit Deshmukh, Mohan Prakash, Manikrao Thakre, Mukul Wasnik, Rajendra Mulak and Subhodh Mohite looks on. |
Top Congress leadership led by CM, parety in-charge Mohan Prakash kick-starts Mukul Wasnik’s re-election campaign
By Dheeraj Fartode
It rained promises on Ramtek voters today as Congress Party almost rolled out a 'red carpet,' doling out announcements with an eye on the coming general elections. Showcasing a never before seen speed in the election campaign, party drafted in all powerful men in rank and file to virtually launch re-election campaign for AICC General Secretary and former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik.Wasnik managed to wrest major concession from Maharashtra Government for his parliamentary constituency on Tuesday at the booth level agent convention.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan promised to positively consider demand for a new Deolapar tehsil and also to grant status of Municipal Council to Wadi Panchayat. Well this was not all, he also announced finalisation of development plan for Ramtek along with appropriate financial allocation soon. Similarly, land acquisition for National Investment Manufacturing Zone NIMZ) at Kuhi would be put on fast track and promised to complete formalities for opening office of National Disaster Management Authority.
All this within a day virtually kick started the campaign for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections atleast in Nagpur Region, the political watchers said. The programme organised by Nagpur District Congress Committee at Lamba Celebrations had Mukul Wasnik's stamp all over it. All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and In-charge for Maharashtra, Mohan Prakash, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, Manikrao Thakre, Maharashtra Ministers Shivajirao Moghe, Dr Nitin Raut and Rajendra Mulak, former MPCC chief, Ranjit Deshmukh, former Union Minister Subhodh Mohite, NDCC Chief Sunita Gawande and host of others were present at the function.
The Chief Minister in his speech took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi in particular, claiming that people are not going to be fooled by a PR campaign. Non-Congress squandered the chances given to them, he alleged while expressing confidence that voters would repose faith in the work done by Congress Party.
Without naming BJP or Shiv Sena he accused rival parties of trying to vitiate the secular fabric of the country. Chavan asked partymen and voters to be beware of such divisive tactics. Some parties try to wedge division between communities and referred to riots post Babri-demolition and recent communal flare-ups in Uttar Pradesh to buttress his charge.
Earlier, AICC Gen. Sec. Mohan Prakash in his fiery speech took a dig at main opposition BJP saying though far away from majority, the top leaders are squabbling on who would be Prime Minister. Earlier, Prime Minister in waiting L K Advani is now sidelined and there is new man in waiting, Narendra Modi. But with new rules in Railways, though RAC ticket is cleared, waiting list position does not change, he quipped.
Taking a jibe at Sangh parivar, he said, Dr Mohan Bhagwat is now trying to sort out the race for top post among BJP leaders, while former says it is no way involved in politics. But the things playing out in BJP are in stark contrast to public stance of RSS, he further claimed.
He compared Maharashtra Government with that of Gujarat and said former have shown new way to nation and several of its decision were upheld at the national level. But in Gujarat, the adivasis and women are suffering untold miseries and people like Amit Shah, former Home Minister of Gujarat, has been externed from Gujarat limit while over a dozen police officers are lodged in jail. Is this Gujarat model Modi wants to replicate all over the country ? Prakash questioned.
At the outset, Mukul Wasnik said the role of booth level agent is crucial with new directives of Election Commission. He asked the agents to reach out to voters and propagate the good work done by UPA and listed various projects that got sanctioned for Ramtek parliamentary constituency. Wasnik also reminded Chief Minister that announcements about resolving Zudpi jungle issue, setting-up of Indian Institute of Information Technology, and etc. are still nowhere in sight and demanded speeding-up the process.
He also demanded stopping the power disconnection of farmers, saying the recent excess rainfall has already done the devastation.
MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre said party's performance in election depends solely on work of booth level agents. He asked them to take-up people take-up problems of common man and said Government is committed to resolve them. Guardian Minister Shivajirao Moghe, Rajendra Mulak and Sunita Gawande also spoke on the occasion.
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