Throwing down the gauntlet to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, Solapur-based farmer-activist Prabhakar Deshmukh, popularly known as ‘Bhaiyyaji’, said he would contest against Mr. Pawar in the upcoming State Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference on Monday in Solapur, Mr. Deshmukh said he would fight against Mr. Pawar from the latter’s bastion in Baramati.
Mr. Deshmukh made news in March last year when he went on a two-month long hunger strike to protest against the ruling Congress-NCP, protesting against corruption and the state government’s callous handling of the prevailing drought.
His agitation had prompted a vicious and tasteless response from Mr. Pawar who had said: “There is this person from Solapur, on a hunger strike for 55 days, demanding that water be released from the [Ujani] dam [in Solapur district]. But where are we going to get water from? Should we urinate? And how will we do that when there is no water to drink?”
Later, in April, the Bombay High Court had ordered the State to promptly release water into the dry Ujani dam.
