mumbai the 92nd marathi sahitya sammelan has triggered a political row with scores of writers planning to boycott the meet following the organizers decision to withdraw invitation to literatteur nayantara sahgal whose prepared speech was a carping criticism of the modi regime on the issue of intolerance the meet is to be held in yavatmal over the weekend sahgal who was invited for the sammelan as chief guest and was to share the dais with cm devendra fadnavis was informed by the organizers on monday that the invitation had been withdrawn fadnavis issued a statement saying his government had no intention to interfere in literary matters but blaming fadnavis for the fiasco congress leader shivajirao moghe has demanded an apology from the cm for insulting sahgal sahgal 91 the niece of pm jawaharlal nehru has a bond with maharashtra her father ranjit pandit belonged to vengurla village in konkanlocal organizers have blamed akhil bharatiya marathi sahitya mahamandalfor the fiasco the decision to disinvite sahgal was taken by mahamandal president shripad joshi alleged padmakar malakapure one of the organizers on tuesday in a statement joshi said he will not speak on the invitation fiasco till the sammelan ends noting that whatever he had to say had been said joshi said he will now prefer to work hard to organize the event properlywriters and publishers including poets vasant abaji dahake and satish kalsekar and publishers ramdas bhatkal and ashok kothavale have come down on the mahamandal and the organizers much depends on how writer aruna dhere the sammelan president handles the crisis said analysts known for her belief in freedom of thought and speech dhere has said she would make her views known in her presidential address bhalchandra mungekar exmumbai university vicechancellor has in a statement urged dhere to keep away from the meet while akhil bharatiya marathi parishad sangh a body of publishers urged readers to ignore the row and attendmany think the key issue is the cashstrapped mahamandals growing inability to keep netas at bay the mahamandal claims rising inflation compels it to go to the government for funds but many attribute the sammelans bloated budget to mahamandals penchant for razzmatazz years ago delegates would be treated to a meal of bhakri vegetables and buttermilk today the sammelan is known more for its sumptuous lunches and dinners than scholarly debates said a publisher the fadnavis regime has given rs 25 lakh to the mahamandal for the meetlocal power brokers are roped in as members of the reception committee which is generally headed by the local mp mla or minister political patronage restricts freedom of writers said kshama mhatre a retired teacher she recalled how netas kept a low profile when stalwarts like v w shirwadkar p l deshpande vinda karandikar and durga bhagwat ruled the literary scene some allege leftwing writers have been indulging in selective protest those slamming bjp have a soft spot for congress or ncp the two parties have for long been backing their favourites in literature