Vilasrao Deshmukh lashes out at media (Lead, superseding earlier story)

LATUR - Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has lambasted the media for sensationalising trivial issues and giving out half-baked stories.

“Media channels just sit in their offices and hold panel discussions to bring down political leaders,” said Deshmukh, a former Maharashtra chief minister, at a function in the state’s Latur district late Friday.

He said that worrying about the nation’s development and going from one discussion to another will not take the nation anywhere.

“The same people will be emptying liquor glasses and downing peg after peg of drinks in the night,” he added.

Citing a Marathi idiom, Deshmukh said that the depth of a river or a pond cannot be gauged by sitting on the shore and throwing pebbles in it.

“One has to take the plunge to know how deep it is,” he said.

Earlier this month, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took on the media for allegedly reporting half-truths and then his uncle Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar attacked the media for holding him responsible for the plunge in onion prices.

Ajit Pawar had suggested a gag on those indulging in such journalism and caning of such scribes which was followed by massive protests from the journalist fraternity who asked for an unconditional apology from the junior Pawar.