As the Budget session of the Maharashtra Legislature gets underway on Monday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government will put its best foot forward on the first day by releasing the first list of farm loan waiver beneficiaries, even as the Opposition BJP will go all out to drive a wedge between the ruling Shiv Sena and its alliance partners — NCP and Congress — over the contentious issues like the CAA, NPR and Veer Savarkar.
Addressing a news conference after the Opposition BJP boycotted the customary tea hosted by him on the eve of the Legislature session, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that as part of the first list of farm loan waiver, the State Government will write off loans up to Rs 2 lakh each taken by farmers across the State.
“Tomorrow, we will announce the first list of list of farm loan waiver beneficiaries with dues up to Rs 2 lakh each. Unlike the previous BJP-led Government (of which my party was a part) which had made farm loan waiver without home work and did not execute its announcement, we have planned the loan waiver scheme well. We will complete the execution of the entire loan waiver process within three months,” Uddhav said.
Dismissing the criticism of his Government by the Opposition BJP on various counts, Uddhav said: “I do not think it is necessary for me to respond to the issues raised by the Opposition. Just because it criticises the Government does not make it a good opposition. At a time when the government is doing good work, it is improper on the Opposition’s part to say that the Government is not doing anything.”
Charging that the Opposition BJP could not stomach the fact the ruling MVA was providing a stable government in the state, Uddhav said: “Our is not a government that is counting
days.
The BJP is unable to stomach the fact that ours is a stable government. We have not just made promises, but we are implementing out promises. The people in the state think that it is their Government”.
“We are implementing a people-friendly initiate like Shiv Bhojan Yojana ( Rs 10 a meal scheme). Still the Opposition is criticising us. Here is a party (BJP) that did not did anything good for the people when it was in power. We are getting good response for the Shiv Bhojan Yojana. We are planning to enlarge the scope ofthis scheme in the coming days,” the Chief Minister said.
Among other things, Uddhav said that the state government was planning to come out with a legislation along the lines of the the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law Amendment Act 2019 – better known as the Andhra Pradesh Disha law, which stipulates death sentences to convicts in rape cases within 21 days. “We have set a five-member official committee to study the Andhra Pradesh law and come out with a report on the proposed legislation that we intend out to introduce in the State Legislature,” he said.
Informed sources in the Opposition BJP said that its leaders would go out all the way to corner the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress front Government over contentious like Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and Veer Savarkar.
Talking to media persons after boycotting the session-eve hosted by the Chief Minister, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis — in an apparent effort to exploit the differences among the ruling MVA partners on contentious issues – dared Uddhav to move a resolution on the floor of the State Legislature to hail the contributions of Veer Savarkar on the occasion of the latter’s death anniversary on February 26”.
Slamming the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation for not being able to come grips with the challenges facing his government, Fadnavis said: “Three months have passed but the MVA Government is still in a state of confusion. It has not implemented the promises it made in the run-up to the Assembly elections. Though it announced it would waive the loans of farmers. But, it has not begun implementation of farm loan waiver scheme”.
“The Government has lost its control over the increasing atrocities against women. The Government is not sensitive at all when it comes to women issues. The government is trying to erode the morale of the police force in the State...This Government has stayed the implementation of various decisions taken by our government like the water grid and our flagship schemes like Gram Sadak yojana and Jal Yukt Shivara. The Shiv Sena is not ready to speak on the insults being heaped by the NCP and Congress on the descendents of Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji,” Fadnavis said.
On its part, the ruling MVA is preparing to dig up alleged irregularities in several schemes, including Fadnavis’ pet project “Jal Yukt Shivara”, implemented by the previous BJP-led saffron alliance government. During the course of the budget session, the state government is expected to either order inquiries or come out with details of corruption in the earlier Government.
Available indications are anything to go by, both the Houses of the State Legislature are expected to witness a lot of fireworks during the budget session.