Curtain Raiser: We will counter opposition attack campaign in winter session with theft retort, says Fadnavis

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

TO counter the Opposition’s possible offensive, the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has decided to adopt an “offence is the best form of defence” strategy during the Legislature Session beginning here on Monday. Addressing media persons here the chief minister said: “We will counter their hallabol (attack) campaign with dallamar (theft) retort.”

While defending his government’s performance vis-a-vis the many contentious issues raised by the Opposition in their press conference earlier in the day, Fadnavis read out statistics. He said: “We will give a fitting reply by pointing out how our performance in three years is much better than their’s in 15 years prior to us.”

Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, had said: “The loss being incurred by the state due to the misgovernance of the current state government is much higher than the one caused by cyclone Ockhi. The government has to give advertisements to publicise its work and is taking credit of the work done by the Congress government. Time has come for the people to ask the government as to what happened to its promises.”

Vikhe-Patil added: “BJP MPs are disgruntled and quitting the party. Sena MLAs are telling the party chief to quit the government. Twenty-five thousand farmers have committed suicide and there have been over 67,000 child deaths in the state.

The government has deceived the farmers in the loan waiver scheme. A suicide by a farmer from Washim, Dyaneshwar Misal, is an evidence of this fact. He had met the Minister of State for Agriculture, Sadabhau Khot, and Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole. But Khot could not provide any succour to him.”
He demanded that the government declares the list of farmers it claims to have given the loan waiver till now.

Vikhe-Patil also targeted Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. “He has so far, given 93 warnings to quit the government and will soon complete century. Best luck to him,” he said.

The Opposition leader pointed out that the state’s position was the third highest according to the recently-declared report of the National Crime Records Bureau.

“In kidnapping, the state has put Bihar behind and in cyber crime, as against the government’s tom-toming of transparency, the state is the second-worst affected in the country,” he said.

Expecting attack from the Opposition on the issue of farmers, Fadnavis said: “The issues concerning farmers are very important. The arrival of various crops in the market is higher at this point of time compared to last year. The government has started survey of damage caused to cotton by pink bollworm. We will make seed companies pay the damages to farmers as law provides for such damage recovery from them in case of technology failure. We are also seeking aid from the National Disaster Relief Fund, apart from compensation through crop insurance scheme.”
He added: “The central government has adopted the right approach with regards to import and export of agri commodities. It has led to soyabean and wheat fetching good prices. The Centre has also lifted export ban on pulses. All these steps have helped stabilise prices of agriculture produces.”

With regards deaths caused by pesticide inhalation in Vidarbha, the CM said: “We have already provided relief and
will lay down major measures, the details of which will be given later.”

He also said the government is committed to improve irrigation facilities in the backward regions of Vidarbha, Marathwada and north Maharashtra. “The Centre has approved 108 projects that will hugely increase the irrigation potential within two years.”

About the contentious loan waiver scheme, he said: “We have received 77 lakh applications and by removing duplicate ones, we are left with 69 lakh applications. Of them, 41 lakh have already been processed and the banks have been given the requisite amount to be deposited in the farmers’ accounts. We have kept the whole process very transparent. A special task force will collect information on the ground about the contentious applications and we will ensure that no eligible farmer is left out.”

Asked about the amount deposited, the CM said: “About Rs 19,000 crore have so far been given and we will soon put out list of farmers receiving benefit on the website.”

He emphasised that digitised processing has saved the state crores of rupees and also created a valuable database for use in all future schemes.

He added that in case the Opposition attacks them, he will provide a pile of evidence against their misdeeds during the 15 years of their rule.

About the scholarship scam, Fadnavis said: “We have released amounts that were due to be delivered during their tenure. We have made it Aadhaar-linked to prevent any fraud.”

Asked about the Opposition’s demand to run the session for four weeks, the CM said: “Let them first allow the session to run smoothly. We are ready to give replies to all their questions but they only want to create ruckus.”

About the Opposition charge that the state is reeling under the burden of debt, he said: “Our GDP to debt ratio is much better than most states and we are still in a position to secure more loan. Moreover, our investment in infrastructure projects is only increasing our GDP, thereby bettering the overall picture.”

About Nana Patole’s resignation, he said: “He will soon realise his mistake.”

With regards to the letter written by Katol party MLA Ashish Deshmukh, Fadnavis said: “His letter reached the media first and me, later. I haven’t yet read it. I will comment after reading it.”