Actors Ramesh Pardeshi, Rajkumar Tangde trade farm banter on Facebook over Gokul poll

The election for the chairman of Kolhapur's Gokul Milk Union has been much talked about for some days. While the political charges and counter-charges over the election continued, Gokul has now found a mention in the entertainment world too. Actor Ramesh Pardeshi, known as Pityabhai from "Mulshi Pattern", put a sharp question on social media to actor and writer Rajkumar Tangde.

The question stems from a Facebook post by Tangde on the Gokul Milk Union election results. In the election, the Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi, led by Satej Patil, won 13 of the 25 seats. The Mahayuti's Chhatrapati Shahu Shetkari Vikas Aghadi got 12 seats. But the quorum required for the election of the chairman was not met, and that gave the election a different turn.

Commenting on these developments in a humorous vein, Tangde wrote: "Thirteen went out of twelve, minus one remained, then four taken from twenty-five by hand, and it came to sixteen. Now go flail about in court crying that democracy has been murdered, till then we will eat a ball of Gokul butter..." With these words he took a satirical dig at the Gokul election.

Ramesh Pardeshi commented on the post and asked directly: "Does your milk also go to Gokul?" Tangde replied in jest. He wrote: "My living comes from farming and I know how to milk, Rameshrao..."

Pardeshi then said he too is a farmer. He wrote in a comment: "We are farmers too and act part-time. We have 10 cows, and along with milking there are modern arrangements as well."

After Pardeshi's reply, Tangde spoke about his own farming. He has between ten and fifteen buffaloes, big and small. He also remarked that he is from Marathwada, so he does not yet have a milking machine. The sense of his remarks was that whether a farmer is from Kolhapur or Marathwada, a farmer is the same.

The social media banter, which began with the Gokul Milk Union election, has now become a talking point. Commenting on political events, both artists mentioned their own farming and being farmers. This has drawn social media users' attention to the comments.