BJP Mla invites anti-PM leaders to fest in Katol

Nagpur: After publicly criticising chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for his style of functioning and meeting top rebel leader Yashwant Sinha for leading the farmers’ agitation in Vidarbha a few months ago, rebel BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh has now invited disgruntled BJP Lok Sabha (LS) member Shatrughan Sinha and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh for a programme in his Katol constituency.

Mr Deshmukh said that he had invited the two anti-Narendra Modi leaders to his constituency for the Katol festival being organised on September 22.

The Katol MLA has been criticising the BJP-led government in Maharashtra and at the Centre since 2016, and even wrote to Mr Fadnavis last year, targeting him for growing unemployment, unrest among farmers due to the ongoing agrarian crisis, and Mr Fadnavis’ failure at containing corruption in the state.

Mr Deshmukh’s latest move of inviting Mr Sinha and Mr Singh is being seen as a direct confrontation with the BJP leadership in Mah-arashtra. While inviting two of Mr Modi’s adversaries and the present BJP leadership to the festival, Mr Deshmukh has also urged Mr Fadnavis to immediately look into the issues troubling Vidarbha farmers.

“There is acute water shortage because of not enough rainfall and low water levels at the Pench dam in the district. Farmers are distressed and the government should look into this on a priority basis and provide relief,” he said.

Many parts of the state that are facing a shortage of water have been neglected, he said.