Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that his party will be taking on the State government over several issues, including the economic slowdown and failure in implementing the farm loan waiver scheme on time. He also said the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is unlikely to benefit the State.
Mr. Pawar said his party isn’t against development and new technology, but the bullet train project won’t be beneficial to Maharashtra. “Only 25% of the train’s route falls in Maharashtra, but we have to share the project cost equally with Gujarat. Priorities should be fixed; instead of spending ₹1 lakh crore on this project, the condition of Mumbai locals must be improved.” Party MLA Jitendra Awhad also played a video recording of a speech by Narendra Modi, when he was Gujarat Chief Minister. In the video, Mr. Modi is heard telling the crowd that “no one will travel by this [bullet] train, it is only for show.”
Mr. Pawar didn’t spare Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. “I thought [Mr. Goyal] would have more knowledge about Mumbai’s local train issues as he belongs to the city. Lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned after a train accident. I expected the same from the Railway Minister, but it did not happen“.
On Congress rebel Narayan Rane forming a new party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, he said, “[Mr. Rane] couldn’t even induct his own son into his party. What more can I say about this?”
Economy slowing down
Mr. Pawar said, “All major corporates in the country are cutting down on workforce. Both demonetisation and GST have impacted the Indian economy. Investment has dropped because the country can no longer offer an attractive [business] environment. NCP will take to the streets against inflation.” He added that while the BJP-led government’s initiatives like Make in India and Make in Maharashtra sound catchy, they have actually made people suffer.
“The State government had said the loan waiver scheme would be implemented by Diwali. We have decided to wait till November 5; if nothing happens, we will start a farmers’ non-cooperation movement. This will include not paying taxes or cooperating with government agencies. The government jad said it would be an ‘absolute loan waiver.’ We find this very important. There will be no compromise.” He said the total expenditure on loan waivers wouldn’t exceed ₹12,000 crore as “most farmers will be ineligible for the scheme due to the government’s impractical norms”.
He also criticised the Centre for incidents of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, and said there were loopholes in the policies adopted by the government in the Valley. “The government should have demonstrated its willingness to establish a dialogue and resolve issues.” — With PTI inputs
