Beed: Two Dussehra rallies in the district on Tuesday (20 October) struck very different notes.
At the rally at Shrikshetra Bhagwan Bhaktigad in Savargaon Ghat, held in the presence of minister Pankaja Munde, MLA Dhananjay Munde was attending for the second year running. The loud sloganeering as he rose to speak drew a wry remark, and the crowd burst out laughing.
Gopinath Munde and Pankaja Munde brought the Ganga of development to Beed, he said, and he too had taken several decisions in the interest of sugarcane-cutters, yet in the end he had to bear the criticism.
"I spoke at last year's Dussehra rally and I speak now, nowhere else have I opened up. But now I have tolerated a lot," he said, airing his pain. Borrowing from Urdu poetry, he told his rivals, "No matter how much you speak, I will not speak. Some gatherings are sitting for my ruin, but they don't yet know that the wind's direction is changing."
At the second rally, at Shrikshetra Machhindranath Gad in Ashti taluka on Tuesday, MLA Suresh Dhas steadied farmers. They must plan their finances in view of the drought's seriousness, and take no extreme decision in the heat of the moment, he said.
"If you are in difficulty, make one phone call. We are available 24 hours to help you," Dhas assured. He appealed for patience, saying the drought is likely to intensify in the days ahead, and asked the family's earning member to avoid needless spending.
Drought does not strike only people, he said. Livestock and wildlife suffer too, and protecting them needs a collective effort. Dhas made clear that efforts would be made under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's leadership to fight the drought, and that no one would be left alone in the crisis.