Goldwatch!

MNS legislator Ramesh Wanjale breaks promise to Raj again; wears gold to NDA's passing out parade; blames it on weddings in the city

Goldwatch!

MNS legislator Ramesh Wanjale breaks promise to Raj again; wears gold to NDA's passing out parade; blames it on weddings in the city

He has done it again. MNS legislator Ramesh Wanjale was once again caught off-guard wearing his trademark two kg gold jewellery at the passing out parade of the National Defence Academy (NDA) yesterday.

Seeing Wanjale decked in gold after his victory in the assembly elections, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had pulled him up for being so ostentatious and asked him to be austere.

Wanjale had promised his party chief that he wouldn't wear the heavy ornaments after taking the oath, but yesterday he created another embarrassing situation for the party as he was present at the heavily attended ceremony in his bedecked state.

Raj had allowed him to wear the yellow metal only on special occasions like weddings, family functions, festivals and his own birthday.

However, this is the second time in the past week that Wanjale has done this. Earlier on Tuesday, Wanjale was photographed wearing his jewellery as he came out of irrigation minister Ajit Pawar's cabin.

While last week Wanjale tried to hide his slip by rushing out before the media caught up with him, yesterday he was happily posing with invitees to the NDA ceremony even as media persons looked on.

It's the weddings
When contacted, Wanjale claimed that he was left with no choice but to 'parade' the gold as he had to attend 39 weddings back-to-back from early morning to late at night.

"I had to attend weddings one after another and that's why I wore the gold," said Wanjale adding that he has wedding invitations till December 15. However, he added that he wouldn't wear any ornaments for the next three days.

When asked why he wore the jewellery to a public function despite his party chief's stern reprimand, he said he was hard pressed for time.

"I didn't have time to change. Besides, my party workers insist that I wear my trademark jewellery to weddings," said Wanjale.

Incidentally, his wife Harshada, who had accompanied him to the ceremony, was wearing much lesser jewellery than Wanjale.

Changed man?
Embarrassed after people ridiculed him for his display of gold; Wanjale had wanted to do a PhD on Sant Tukaram, who was also his idol.

He was recently suspended with three other MNS legislators for attacking Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi in the House. Wanjale was the first to oppose Azmi as he grabbed the mike from the dais and did not allow the latter to take oath in Hindi.