Farmers’ protest: Chavan meets Shetti, fuels speculation about a front against govt ahead of Winter Session

IN a move which has raised many eyebrows in the political circles, former chief minister and Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan met Swabhimani Paksha MP Raju Shetti at the latter’s home in Shirol taluka of Kolhapur district on Saturday. The meeting assumes importance as the opposition parties have been trying to present a combined front against the government before the start of the state assembly session.

Talking about the meeting, Shetti said Chavan had called to ask him to join the farmers’ protest organised by the Congress. “I told him that we will be taking a decision about the same soon,” said Shetti. The farmers’ leader also said that he had thanked Chavan and the Congress for the pro-farmer’s stance taken by the party. “When I had raised the issue of corruption in the way the contract was given for the software to implement the farmers’ loan waiver, Prithviraj Chavan had supported me. I thanked him for the same,” he said. Asked if this meeting could start a new political move in the state, Shetti said it was too early to comment. “Such things are never decided in a hurry,” he said.

Chavan’s meeting with Shetti comes in the backdrop of the opposition parties taking to the streets to protest against the “anti-farmer policies” of the state government. The NCP has already started a morcha from Yavatmal to Nagpur to highlight the farm distress in the state while Congress is also planning a similar rally before the start of the winter session of the state legislature.

Shetti, along with some farmers’ leaders, had organised a massive rally in New Delhi earlier this month to protest against the Centre.

Shetti clarified that the rally in the national capital was non-political in its affiliation. Since his decision to part ways with the BJP and NDA, Shetti has been vocal against both the state and central government. While he has remained non-committal about his future political moves, party insiders have not ruled out a new coalition to take on the BJP in the sugar belt of western Maharashtra.