Don’t care about being in power, just want Maharashtra farmers to be debt-free: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai city news: Shiv Sena leaders backed the farmers’ agitation earlier this month, bitterly criticising the govt and taking to the streets in protest

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said he did not care about being in power, he just wants to ensure that Maharashtra’s farmers are debt free. Speaking to leaders from the Kiran Kranti Jan Andolan from Puntamba — a market town in Ahmednagar that was initially the epicentre of the agitation — at his residence on Tuesday evening, Thackeray said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was yet to implement the loan waiver it had announced.

Thackeray said the BJP was yet to implement the loan waiver it had announced. (HT File Photo)

With relations between the Shiv Sena and the BJP having turned sour during the recent farmers’ agitation, BJP minister Chandrakant Patil plans to visit Thackeray at his residence and attempt to smoothen ties.

Patil is likely to visit Matoshree, the Thackeray family’s residence in Bandra on Wednesday.

Shiv Sena leaders backed the farmers’ agitation earlier this month, bitterly criticising the government and even taking to the streets in protest. Even as the Devendra Fadnavis-led government attempted to quell the protests by promising loan waivers for small and marginal farmers, the Shiv Sena — a junior partner in the government — kept insisting on an immediate loan waiver for all farmers in the state.

Shiv Sena ministers even skipped a cabinet meeting, saying the BJP-led government should have clarified its stand on loan waivers and involved the Shiv Sena in its decision -making process.

After the government recently gave in to farmers’ demands for a complete loan waiver, the Shiv Sena was quick to take credit. Party leaders put up posters right outside the BJP office, claiming that it was Thackeray’s perseverance that led to farmers’ loans being waived.