Opposition will target Maharashtra govt over potential investment loss, agrarian distress in winter session: Ajit Pawar

Nagpur: The Opposition will corner the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government over agrarian distress and the state losing investment projects in the winter session of the legislature beginning here on Monday, opposition leader Ajit Pawar said on Sunday.

Pawar also said the Opposition has unanimously decided to boycott the customary tea party to be hosted by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde later in the day.

Other issues like remarks by state Governor B S Koshyari on Shivaji Maharaj and the simmering border row with Karnataka are also likely to dominate the winter session.

"The Opposition will target the government over big-ticket investment projects preferring other states over Maharashtra and the agrarian distress," Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, told a press conference here.

Pawar's counterpart in the Legislative Council, Ambadas Danve (Shiv Sena UBT), senior leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party and state Congress president Nana Patole were also present.

Pawar said it was unanimously decided to boycott the tea party invitation extended by CM Shinde.

"It's been nearly six months that the state government has come to power, but it has not been able to fulfil the expectations of the people," Pawar added.

The Opposition has been targeting the Eknath Shinde-BJP government since the Vedanta-Foxconn project chose Gujarat to set up an ambitious semiconductor plant.

MVA's protest march

On Saturday, in a show of strength, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had taken out a protest march in Mumbai, primarily to protest against the "insult" meted out to the icons.

Targeting the state government over the border row with Karnataka, Pawar on Sunday said CM Shinde was unable to present the case as aggressively as his Karnataka counterpart Basavraj Bommai did.

He said while the merger of 865 villages having a Marathi-speaking population in Bidar, Nipani and Belgavi in Karnataka is still pending, many villages from Maharashtra bordering other states have been making demands to integrate with neighbouring states.

Such a thing has never happened in the last 62 years, the former Deputy CM said.