Shiv Sena chief targets Maha CM over farm loan waiver in UP

Uddhav Thackeray demanded that Devendra Fadnavis should follow in the UP chief minister’s footsteps and announce a loan waiver for farmers across Maharashtra...

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday congratulated Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for approving waiver on farm loans up to Rs1 lakh in his state. Thackeray, in the same breath, demanded that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis should follow in the UP chief minister’s footsteps and announce a loan waiver for farmers across Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. (HT file)

The ongoing budget session of the Maharashtra legislature has been dominated by the demands for farm loan waiver. Maharashtra is witnessing a state-wide protests by the Opposition parties and the Shiv Sena, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally in the state government, who are demanding a loan waiver. However, the BJP-led state government till date has refrained from doing so citing paucity of funds.

“Yogi Adityanath fulfilled promises, that were made in the election manifesto, in his first cabinet meeting after becoming the chief minister. This is a matter of pride. He has showed that these announcements are not merely an election jumla (empty promises). If India’s biggest state can waive off loans of its farmers, then why is agriculture-dominated Maharashtra’s chief minister shying away from making the decision?” Thackeray said.

Six Opposition parties, including Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had conducted a week-long 1,500-km ‘Sangharsh Yatra’ raising farm loan waiver issue across the state from dry Vidarbha and Marathwada, where farmer suicides are the highest. The Yatra ended on Tuesday at Panvel. Shiv Sena, who did not participate in the Yatra has been demanding waiver of farm loans from the BJP-led government.