Ajit had in a public meeting in Nanded district last week, used unparliamentarily words against the journalists demanding curbs on the electronic and print media alleging that the media was exaggerating minor issue and not revealing the complete truth to the people. Offended by Ajit’s remarks and his arrogant behavior, the media covering the function boycotted it. The police personnel lost no time in manhandling the scribes and snatching their cameras and beating them, the drama all watched silently by Ajit. Several organizations condemned Ajit and met the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan urging him to take action against a rude and brash minister Ajit Pawar.
A 12 member delegation of journalists from various unions called upon the state governor K. Sankaranarayanan on Monday and protested against the remarks made by Ajit and the manhandling of journalists by the police. Sankaranarayanan assured the journalists that he would speak with the Ajit on the issue.
The delegation later in day met Chief Minister Chavan and demanded an unconditional apology from Ajit within 48 hours. They told Chavan that Ajit had instigated police personnel to attack journalists at the Nanded public meeting and also demanded that action should be taken against the police personnel including suspension of the police inspector involved and transfer of the District Superintendent of Police. They made it clear to Chavan that if Ajit fails to tender the apology within 48 hours the journalists in the state would boycott his functions and black out his coverage in the media. Chavan clamed down the irritated delegation member and said he would speak to Ajit.
The journalists’ ultimatum and public outcry against Ajit put the NCP on backfoot with the state general secretary of the party Gajanan Desai trying to engage in a damage control exercise, saying that the clips shown on television channels don’t present the entire truth and that the media was overreacting to the incident.
As the apology was not forthcoming from Ajit even after the 48 hours deadline was over, the print and electronic media boycotted the press briefing scheduled on Wednesday after the weekly cabinet meeting where Chavan was to interact with the media. The journalists conveyed to the Director General of Information and Public Relations that they have decided to continue with the boycott as Chavan has failed to take any action and Ajit remains adamant and refuse to apologize.
On Thursday, the media continue to boycott the important E-Governance conference hosted by the state government and attended by the Chavan in Aurangabad. Senior journalist Annirudh Deshpande said that the media will no longer tolerate the tantrums of Ajit and would take him heads on. The tiff between the journalists and Ajit has snowballed into a major issue with neither side budging to climb down.
