Fadnavis leads BJP delegation to Shah seeking sweet deal for Maha’s sugar industry

Fadnavis was accompanied by six to seven party leaders – all sugar barons exported to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls.

Former chief minister (CM) and leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis led a party delegation to meet Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday in Delhi, to discuss various issues of the state’s sugar sector, including a better fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane farmers and a package for the sugar industry.

Devendra Fadnavis’ meeting assumes importance as it is viewed as a bid to woo the sugar lobby and keep his promises to these former Congress-NCP leaders. (HT file photo)

Fadnavis was accompanied by six to seven party leaders – all sugar barons exported to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls. These included Harshvardhan Patil, Ranjeetsinha Naik-Nimbalkar, Dhananjay Mahadik, Vinay Kore (BJP ally), and Jay Kumar Gore.

These leaders all come from Western Maharashtra, which is seen as the NCP’s bastion. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is considered the undisputed leader of the state’s co-operative and sugar lobby.

Fadnavis’ meeting assumes importance as it is viewed as a bid to woo the sugar lobby and keep his promises to these former Congress-NCP leaders.

“We met Union home minister Amit Shahji to discuss the various issues facing the sugar sector. There is likely to be bumper crop in Maharashtra and as such, farmers should get higher FRP and factories also should run. We also sought a package for the factories that are not doing well and an expansion of the Centre’s ethanol policy,” said Fadnavis, while speaking to reporters in Delhi after the meeting.

The state delegation sought restructuring of existing loans from the National Co-operative Development Corporation (NCDC) and soft loans to sugar industry. The delegation also submitted detailed proposals regarding the same to Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union food and public distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan after the meeting with Shah.

“This year there will be excess production of sugar in Maharashtra as we had a very good monsoon so far. If all 225 sugar factories have to run, then they will need assistance. Many of the factories need their loans to be restructured with lower interest. We also proposed adding the sugar industry under the Centre’s ‘atmanirbhar’ policy, as the sugar sector is central to the state economy. This can help us get soft loans worth ₹12,000 crore-₹1,5000 crore,” said Patil.

Ahead of the assembly polls in 2019, the Fadnavis government had taken a cabinet decision to provide a conditional government guarantee to the state’s co-operative sugar mills seeking to raise loans from NCDC. Many of the beneficiaries of this decision were leaders who had recently joined the BJP.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, however, revoked the decision when it came to power in December 2019.

The state’s sugar industry, led by political heavyweights, is in trouble, with several factories in the red due to mismanagement. Many of its leaders, including those who were poached from Congress and NCP to join BJP, chose to switch parties in the hope of keeping their factories afloat by getting loans from the government or NCDC. The sugar factories in several constituencies help political leaders to shore up their vote base.

No Operation Lotus in Maharashtra, says Fadnavis

Fadnavis reiterated that BJP did not have any political agenda in Maharashtra, and the party was focused on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are not making any attempt to bring this government down. There is no Operation Lotus or anything from our end. I have said earlier, too, that this government contradicts itself and will fall on its own,” said Fadnavis.

He also said that besides the sugar industry’s issues, he also discussed the overall Covid-19 scenario in Maharashtra with the Union home minister.

Fadnavis briefs PM on Covid-19 ground reality in Maharashtra

Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening in Delhi and briefed him about the Covid-19 situation in Maharashtra. Fadnavis said that he presented the ground reality of the outbreak in the state to the PM, based on his travel across Maharashtra.

He said that the meeting was not to make a state specific demand but to present the PM about his assessment.

“PM asked me about the specific situation in Mumbai, Pune, Vidarbha and Marathwada. He also asked if I had any suggestions on the situation, which I shared with him. This was not a political meeting.”