Will development become the catchphrase in Maharashtra’s politics just as it has in Gujarat and Bihar? Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan certainly thinks so.
The state’s politics will take a different turn if the trend seen in the municipal council election continues, Chavan said here on Nagpur while commenting on the outcome of the recently held civic polls for small cities, where ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won about two-thirds of the councils while Sena-BJP suffered a setback.
“It looks like people prefer development agenda and not the politics of intolerance. If the trend is repeated in the coming civic polls (for bigger cities), the political parties will be forced to pay more attention to development,” Chavan said while talking to the media here on Friday.
The CM also said that the Sena-BJP’s political domain is being occupied mostly by the NCP. “The result shows that the NCP occupies the Opposition’s space. A part of the Opposition’s support base went to the Congress as well,” he added.
Though the Congress and NCP competed with each other in the recent polls, Chavan said both the parties want to forge an alliance to win in the municipal councils, where there is no clear majority for either of them. He also said that the two parties were serious about teaming up for the civic polls in Mumbai, Thane and Nashik.
Regarding the controversy over the Rs2,000 crore package announced for distressed farmers, Chavan said it was a short-term measure and improving the support system extended to farmers would be a solution to the agrarian crisis. “We are contemplating introducing crop insurance that covers loss caused by natural reasons and price fluctuations in the market,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Regarding the controversy over the Rs2,000 crore package announced for distressed farmers, Chavan said it was a short-term measure and improving the support system extended to farmers would be a solution to the agrarian crisis. “We are contemplating introducing crop insurance that covers loss caused by natural reasons and price fluctuations in the market,” he said.
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