Stoop low in Mumbai and then take a dip in Indore

After all, avoiding the lure of defection can be pretty tiring. So the 40-odd Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs who were spirited away t...

After all, avoiding the lure of defection can be pretty tiring. So the 40-odd Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs who were spirited away to Indore on Wednesday are putting up their feet—and in some cases, right into the swimming pool.

Shashikant Shinde and Balasaheb Patil, MLAs from Satara district, spend around 30 minutes today drowning their sorrows in Hotel Sayaji’s swimming pool. ‘‘I had a workout at the gym, and I am now enjoying a dip,’’ beamed Shinde. After all, he pointed out, where the time for such activities otherwise?


NCP MlLAs at the Indore hotel. Express photo by Ramesh Nair

Most of the MLAs couldn’t agree more. ‘‘I saw a film yesterday, without being disturbed by telephone calls and files,’’ Minister of State for Housing Nawab Malik told The Indian Express.

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MoS for Industries Jaidutt Kshirsagar used his time-out from politics to watch Shaheed Bhagat Singh. ‘‘Such a film is necessary at a time when we are under the cloud of war,’’ he intoned. While Minister of State for Revenue Ramraje Nimbalkar spent most of his day in his suite, surfing the Internet on his laptop. ‘‘I have downloaded Sufi music. You want to hear some?’’ he asked.

Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has been playing the good host. AK-47-toting commondoes have been keenly guarding the gates and lobby of the hotel.

While local Congress leaders like MLA Satyanrayan Patel and city Congress chief Kripashankar Shukla have been haring around to ensure that the NCP contingent is well cared for.

Some legislators were carted off to pilgrim centres like Ujjain and Omkareshwar this evening in mini-buses and cars under police escort. On Thursday, around two dozen of them were taken to meet Bhayyu Maharaj, spiritual guru to several Maharashtra politicians and cousin of Excise Minister Anil Deshmukh, at his ashram at Sukhlia near Indore. He is said to have advised them to observe ‘‘patience’’.

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