Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis dared Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, asking him to come with concrete evidence of corruption in crop insurance schemes. The CM also hit out at the Opposition Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine in the state, claiming they had no vision and direction and regional alliance has no face to fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Notably, at a farmers’ rally in drought-hit Beed on January 9, Uddhav had alleged the Centre’s crop insurance scheme was ‘as big a scam’ as the Rafale fighter jet deal. At the state executive committee meeting of the party in Jalna on Monday, Fadnavis replied to allegations levelled by the Sena and the opposition and took a dig at Uddhav. Without naming him, Fadnavis challenged opponent to come forward to prove the allegations about the corruption in crop insurance scheme.
The Opposition Congress and NCP alliance, too, had alleged that the insurance scheme is a big scam. Fadnavis challenged the opposition to show how much amount farmers had received as crop insurance during tenure of the Congress-NCP regime.
“Show me the beneficiaries and the amount they received from the crop insurance scheme and compare with the amount received during BJP tenure. It’s my open challenge. Come forward and let an open debate happen over the issue,” said Fadnavis.
The CM also hit out at the Opposition on their idea of grand alliance. “Unlike the Congress, the BJP is not a dynastic party. It’s a people’s party. The Opposition cannot even decide on a leader before the election. These parties have no aim and are only motivated by sheer political opportunism and their desire to supplant Modi. But they will not succeed,” he said, stating that the fact the BJP had swept the municipal council elections on Monday proved that the public firmly stood behind it.
“Who will come to listen to Sharad Pawar if he holds a rally in Manipur. But the people across India will come to listen to PM Modi,” he said. Fadnavis added the BJP government firmly stood by the state’s farmers in their hour of crisis and the government’s ‘Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman’ scheme would not be closed till the last farmer got justice.
