The BJP-led saffron alliance Government on Sunday evening readied itself for a stormy Budget Session of Maharashtra legislature, after an aggressive Opposition — comprising mainly the Congress and NCP — boycotted the customary tea get-together hosted by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the eve of the start of the crucial session, beginning here on Monday.
All the Opposition parties gave a foretaste of their belligerent mood ahead of the Budget Session of the State legislature, by staying away from the tea hosted by the Chief Minister in protest against the BJP’s failure to keep the promises it had made during the run-up to and after the October 2014 Assembly polls.
Talking to mediapersons, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhw-Patil came down heavily on the Government for its failure to reach relief and financial assistance to the farmers affected by drought and unseasonal rains in the State.
“The BJP-led Government is not serious on any issue. Despite its assurances to the contrary, the State Government has miserably failed to reach compensation to the natural calamity-affected farmers. Nor has it addressed any of the issues of the farmers. In such a situation, our attending tea hosted by the Chief Minister would be like disregarding the sentiments of the farmers,” Vikhe-Patil of the Congress said.
Elaborating on the issues that the Opposition would raise during the Budget Session, Vikhe-Pail said: “There are several issues. We do not have a full-fledged Home Minister. Nor do we do have a full-fledged Agriculture Minister. As a consequence we have problems in both these areas. The law and order situation has worsened in the State. The brutal day killing of senior CPI leader Govind Pansare is a case in point. The State Government has done precious little to tide over the crisis faced by farmers on account of drought, hailstorms and unseasonal rains,” he said.
While Chief Minister Fadnavis controls the State Home portfolio, the State Agriculture portfolio is held by Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, who also has additional portfolios like the Relief and Rehabilitation, Earthquake Rehabilitation, Minorities Development and Wakf, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries and State Excise.
leader of the Opposition in the State legislative Council Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, who addressed a joint Press conference along with Vikhe-Patil and group leaders of other Opposition parties, charged that the ruling BJP had failed to keep the promises it had made to the people in the run-up to the State Assembly polls in October last year.
“The BJP had made several promises, including the one to make Maharashtra a toll-free State, before the polls. But, it has not kept any of its promises. If we have chosen to boycott the tea hosted by the Chief Minister, it is to lodge our protest against the manner in which the ruling BJP has cheated the people in the state through its false electoral promises,” Munde said.
Apart from the State Government’s failure to reach compensation to the natural calamity-affected farmers and bring to book the culprits behind the killing of Pansare, the Opposition is likely to corner the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation in the Budget Session of the State legislature, on issues like scrapping of reservations for Muslims in Government jobs and educational institutions, failure to keep its promise of annulling toll tax and its decision to scrap some of the development schemes announced by the previous Congress-led DF Government.
Apart from the onslaught of the various Opposition parties, the BJP is expected to face opposition from its own ruling alliance partner Shiv Sena on issues like the delay in compensating the farmers affected by drought, hail storms and unseasonal rains and its efforts to push the development plan for Mumbai.