The Shiv Sena is expected to continue its thrust on issues related to farmers and the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra. Senior party functionaries said the Sena manifesto will outline schemes and programmes for farmers in the state.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been pushing for pro-farmer decisions in the Maharashtra government. The Sena, along with opposition parties, pressurised the BJP-led government to announce the farm-loan waiver scheme in the state. The Sena, in the past, had slammed the BJP-led Union and state governments over the crop insurance scheme and the rising number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra.

A senior party functionary said farmer’s welfare will have more weightage in the party manifesto. “Uddhavji has stressed that the issues related to farmers have to be highlighted and measures to solve them need to be offered. We are looking at schemes and programmes that can be delivered to farmers in the next five years,” the functionary said, requesting anonymity.

The senior functionary added, “Steps to curb farmer suicides, providing a market place closer to farms, giving better price for produce are some of the key issues for the party and they would feature in the manifesto.”

Senior leaders point out that the move is also aimed to avoid any discontentment the rural population might have towards BJP. “Though those were state Assembly elections, we have seen it in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh that the rural population and farmers were unhappy with the BJP. Aligning with the BJP should not dent the party,” another party functionary said. As part of this, the Sena had started providing food grains, fodder for cattle, essential household items including cooking oil, flour, among others, in drought-affected areas of the state.

A senior Sena leader said the party is on a “strong footing” after getting the Nanar oil refinery project “scrapped” from Ratnagiri district. The locals, including farmers, had opposed the mega refinery project. “We have always fought for farmers’ rights and we want to continue this, so it will reflect in the manifesto as well.”

First Published: Mar 09, 2019 13:00 IST