<p>Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has courted a controversy asking journalists to "keep the packages (money) they get during the election season" from Congress and NCP.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"In the next 10-12 days, you journalists will have 'Laxmi darshan'," Gadkari said at a poll rally in Sawantwadi in coastal Konkan on Saturday.<br /><br />"Be it reporters or editors, there are separate packages for reporters, newspapers and their owners," Gadkari said.<br /><br />"Diwali has come. I have one request, keep whatever you get. Eat whatever you can," he said.<br /><br />The state secretariat and legislature journalists association flayed Gadkari's remarks.<br />"Gadkari's comments are highly objectionable," president of Mantralaya Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh Pravin Puro said here.<br /><br />"Gadkari has said journalists accept 'packages' (for election coverage). Due to such statements, the image of journalists gets dented," Puro said.</p>
<p>Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has courted a controversy asking journalists to "keep the packages (money) they get during the election season" from Congress and NCP.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"In the next 10-12 days, you journalists will have 'Laxmi darshan'," Gadkari said at a poll rally in Sawantwadi in coastal Konkan on Saturday.<br /><br />"Be it reporters or editors, there are separate packages for reporters, newspapers and their owners," Gadkari said.<br /><br />"Diwali has come. I have one request, keep whatever you get. Eat whatever you can," he said.<br /><br />The state secretariat and legislature journalists association flayed Gadkari's remarks.<br />"Gadkari's comments are highly objectionable," president of Mantralaya Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh Pravin Puro said here.<br /><br />"Gadkari has said journalists accept 'packages' (for election coverage). Due to such statements, the image of journalists gets dented," Puro said.</p>