Maharashtra: CPM member does not need to stay in hotel

At a time when MLAs of various parties are staying in hotels under a hawk-eyed vigil, CPM legislator Vinod Nikole is carefree and for him, it is business as usual.

"After the counterfeit swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, all MLAs of the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress have been put up in various 5-star hotels in Mumbai, to prevent poaching by the BJP. Leaders of all these three parties requested our MLA Vinod Nikole and me to let Vinod stay in one of these hotels," said Dr Ashok Dhawale, president of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

"We politely refused, saying that a CPM MLA does not need this, and that our party is taking whatever care is required," said Dr Dhawale who is also the CPM central committee member.

On Monday, Dr Dhawale, Nikole, Barkya Mangat were touring seven tehsils of Thane-Palghar districts, to take part in massive rallies organised by the the CPM and the AIKS to demand adequate compensation to farmers for their crops that have been destroyed in the unseasonal rain in October.

This is a statewide call given by the AIKS.

"Wherever we are going, we are making all efforts to intensify the people's anger against the political immorality, chicanery and corruption that has been indulged in by the BJP triumvirate of Modi-Shah-Fadnavis, by the renegade Ajit Pawar and by the highest constitutional authorities in the country and in the state," he said.

In fact, Nikole, a 43-year-old activist is the "poorest" among the 288 newly-elected MLAs of Maharashtra with assets worth just Rs 52,082.