Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
A heated verbal exchange broke out on Friday between MP Dr Kalyan Kale and guardian minister Sanjay Shirsat during a pre-Kharif season review meeting over the issue of speaking time. The atmosphere turned tense after Shirsat reportedly remarked, “I will decide whether you should be allowed to sit in the meeting or not.” In response, Dr Kale asserted, “I am a public representative of the district and I have the right to attend government meetings.”
The pre-Kharif review meeting, chaired by guardian minister, was held on Friday afternoon at the district collector’s office. MLAs, MPs, other public representatives, the district collector and officials from the agriculture department attended the meeting.
During the discussion, MP Dr Kalyan Kale alleged that the meeting on the Kharif season, an important issue for farmers, had been hurriedly scheduled on the same day as the district planning committee (DPC) meeting.
Dr Kale stated that although the government had fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of maize at Rs 2,400 per quintal, traders in the district were purchasing maize at nearly Rs 1,200 per quintal. In such a situation, he argued that the government should procure maize from farmers at the MSP and that the district’s maize procurement quota should be increased by the guardian minister.
At this point, Shirsat reportedly interrupted him, saying that discussions on the matter had already been held and questioning the need to speak on the same issue for ‘two hours again’.
Angered by the interruption, Dr Kale responded that increasing the procurement quota for cotton and maize was an important issue and that this was precisely what he was trying to convey. He further stated that he had been elected by the people and that, as a representative of the district, the guardian minister had no authority to decide which meetings he should attend.
While speaking to mediapersons, after concluding the meeting, the guardian minister tried to hush up the matter saying, “I am not having any personal grudges with MP Kale. He is my friend and the conflict between us has ended.”