Row over sports event in drought-hit Latur

A sports event being organised by supporters of late Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Amit in drought-hit Latur has run into rough weather amid claims of misuse of water for ground work, despite the people struggling for every drop in the area.

Moiz Shaikh, the organiser of the Amit Deshmukh district volleyball tournament on March 28, however, denied the claim.

“It is not true that thousands of litres of water was used to sprinkle in the ground,” Shaikh, President of Latur city Congress unit, said.

The ground belongs to the government and its upkeep is their responsibility. We just hired it for a day, he said.

“Around seven-eight buckets of waste water was used for sprinkling on the ground and not 2,500 litres as claimed by some,” he said. Shaikh said the claims of thousands of litres of water being used was a ploy by the political rivals.

Amit, Congress MLA and Deshmukh’s political heir, is out of the country along with family and friends, party sources said.

He is expected to return to India later this week, they added.