Maharashtra School Education Minister Vinod Tawde today alleged in the state legislature that the Congress and the NCP are making "mockery" of farmers by "travelling in air-conditioned buses" during their Sangharsh Yatra.
Maharashtra School Education Minister Vinod Tawde today alleged in the state legislature that the Congress and the NCP are making "mockery" of farmers by "travelling in air-conditioned buses" during their Sangharsh Yatra.
The yatra, for demanding a complete loan waiver for farmers, was started from Chandrapur today. It is scheduled to travel across Maharashtra, before culminating in Banda in the coastal Sindhudurg district on April 5.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Tawde said the Opposition members have boycotted the proceedings in the ongoing Budget session "under the guise of highlighting the plight of farmers and are travelling in an air-conditioned luxury bus for a week."
"What kind of mockery is this of farmers' issues?" he asked.
In the Legislative Council, Tawde waved photographs of the bus, in which, he said the Opposition members are travelling.
"The Opposition members are travelling in air-conditioned buses. What right do they have to talk about the plight of farmers?" he asked.
Meanwhile, replying to a debate in the Upper House, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified that 19 MLAs, who were suspended from the Legislative Assembly last week, faced the action because of their unruly behaviour and not because of the issue they had raised about the farmers.
"They were suspended for their unparliamentary behaviour as they had burnt the copies of the state's annual budget on March 18," he said.
The 19 MLAs--10 of NCP and 9 of Congress--were suspended for nine months for disrupting the Budget speech of Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
The Chief Minister said that besides the state government's efforts to bring 31 lakh farmers back into institutional credit system, "the government also wanted to put in place system for 1.34 crore account-holder farmers who regularly repay loans."
"The suspension of the MLAs was related to the Lower House and has nothing to do with the Legislative Council," the CM said.
Amid the uproar over demand for revoking suspension of the MLAs, the Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar adjourned the proceedings.
After the House reassembled, senior Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe said the CM's reply was not satisfactory.
Meanwhile, the state unit Congress president Ashok Chavan has issued a statement, alleging that the ruling BJP "lacks seriousness" in sensitive issues including those concerning farmers.
"The Opposition does not attach importance to the BJP's criticism. Their criticism is intended to divert the attention of the state from the burning topic of loan waiver.
"If Tawde is concerned about the loan waiver issue, then he should shut down air conditioner of his official vehicle and bungalow, and go to the villages to understand the plight of farmers," Chavan said.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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