Former Maharashtra chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of ignoring the plight of farmers in the State and failing on the Maratha reservation issue.
Mr. Fadnavis said the MVA government, which completed a year in office on Saturday, had failed to provide financial aid to farmers. “The Thackeray government has failed to provide financial assistance to farmers. The government has completely ignored their plight. Cotton, soybean crops got destroyed due to pest attack, but no help was provided to farmers,” Mr. Fadnavis said at a press conference. The State government has miserably failed on the Maratha reservation issue as well, Mr. Fadnavis alleged.
“Some ministers are deliberately making contradictory statements on the Maratha reservation issue. They are doing so to cover up the government’s failure. This government is deliberately dragging its feet in the Supreme Court,” he said.
The BJP leader also said he had not seen any chief minister in Maharashtra, other than Uddhav Thackeray, who threatened the Opposition “so much”, and said his recent interview to Saamana (the Shiv Sena mouthpiece) did not befit the constitutional post he held.
Mr. Fadnavis further said, “The Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court’s recent decisions are enough to underscore the constitutional breakdown in the State.”
He was apparently referring to the Supreme Court’s decision to extend journalist Arnab Goswami’s interim bail, and the Bombay High Court’s observation that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s action of demolishing a part of actor Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow was illegal and smacked of mala fide intention.