Pune: Yerawada jail authorities on Tuesday said they had not received any request from activist Arvind Kejriwal to meet farmers' leader Raju Shetty at the prison. "Daily we get many requests from relatives of jail inmates (to meet them) but we have not received any such application from Arvind Kejriwal for allowing him to meet Raju Shetty," Yerwada Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai said while adding Wednesday was holiday for the jail.
He was responding to a query on media reports whether Kejriwal would be meeting Shetty in the jail. Shetty, an MP and 'Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna' leader was spearheading agitation of farmers against refusal of cooperative sugar factories in Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts of western Maharashtra to give Rs 3,000 per tonne as first advance on sugarcane purchase this season.
Factories have agreed to pay Rs 2,300 per tonne. His detention on Monday sparked large-scale violence with protesting farmers torching two state transport buses and a police jeep in Pune district. Protests were also witnessed in parts of western Maharashtra.
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08:16 PM, Nov 13, 2012
Mumbai: A day after two farmers died and buses were torched following violence in the sugarcane belt of Maharashtra, a political slanging match is on. Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare on Tuesday hit out at Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, blaming him for provoking violence over the minimum support price for sugarcane in Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara districts. "It is because of Sharad Pawar's comments that the violence erupted. what has he...
07:46 PM, Nov 13, 2012
Mumbai: Condemning the firing incident in which a farmer was killed in Sangli district, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday flayed NCP president Sharad Pawar over his remarks about a prominent farmers' leader in Maharashtra. Senior Sena leader Diwakar Raote said, "Farmers anywhere do not have caste." Pawar's remarks are "a ploy to split the farmers' agitation," he alleged. Raote's comments came in the wake of Pawar's remarks in Baramati on...
06:44 PM, Nov 13, 2012
Sangli in Maharashtra remains tense, a day after two sugarcane farmers were killed in clashes with the police. They were part of a group of farmers led by MP Raju Shetty, who were demanding the government's intervention to increase the minimum support price of sugarcane. Backing the farmers now are activists Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal will be meeting Shetty on Wednesday at Pune's Yerawada prison. ...
05:46 PM, Nov 13, 2012
