Nagpur: BJP MLA from Katol Ashish Deshmukh is all set to ruffle party feathers, yet again, as mega event ‘Katol Festival’ in his constituency will be graced by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh and disgruntled BJP leader and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha. With no prominent state BJP leader attending the September 22 event, the rift between Deshmukh and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seems to be getting wider.When questioned why CM is not attending the annual event, Deshmukh said his invitations have not been accepted yet. “For last four years I have been sending an invite to him, but have not received a positive response yet,” said Deshmukh.He quickly added that not too much should be read in either the CM’s absence or the presence of AAP leaders. “(Shatrughan) Sinha and (Sanjay) Singh are national level leaders and we have always had people from different parties sharing this platform. They are coming as speakers for the Vidarbha Yuva Sansad on Saturday and we look forward to hearing view points of such senior people,” said Deshmukh.Though this is the fourth edition of his ‘Katol Festival’, its scale has been ramped up drastically this year. Countering the view that he is trying to ‘send a message’ to his party in an election year, Deshmukh said, “While it’s true that this year we are doing it on a very big scale, don’t read too much into it as there is no message to be sent to anyone. And anyway those who want to listen will listen. Those who don’t, won’t.”The Katol MLA has also urged the CM to ‘immediately’ look into issues troubling farmers in Vidarbha. “There’s acute water shortage because of not enough rainfall and also due to levels being low at the Pench dam. Ever since Madhya Pradesh built the Chaurai dam we have not been getting enough water at Pench. Farmers are distressed and I hope the government looks into this on a priority basis and provides relief,” said Deshmukh. When asked whether any plans were being drawn up for a farmers agitation, Deshmukh said he hoped “things would be sorted out through dialogue”.

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