Talks of mid-term poll resurface

Shiv Kumar

WITH the presidential elections behind, talks of fresh Assembly elections in Maharashtra have begun to do the rounds in the corridors of power yet again.

Though it extended support to BJP’s Ramnath Kovind, the Shiv Sena continues to be as acerbic as ever against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Saamna, regional party’s weapon of choice, continues to spew venom against the government over issues ranging from Kashmir and Pakistan to lynching by ‘gau rakshaks’. Never known to be sympathetic to the Muslim community (Saamna called them ‘green serpents’ in the Bal Thackeray era), the newspaper is calling for accommodation of minorities by the RSS and its political offshoot.

Uddhav Thackeray has also hit the roads to mobilise the Sena cadres to reach out to farmers, who are yet to benefit from the loan-waiver scheme, thus embarrassing the Fadnavis government.

A section in the BJP continues to exhort Fadnavis to pull the plug on the government so as to rid the regional party’s albatross through mid-term elections. Those advocating such a move insist that Modi’s charisma remains intact and the BJP would sail through by unleashing a negative campaign against the Sena and the Opposition Congress-NCP combine. There is also a talk that BJP chief Amit Shah has given the green light to call it quits at an opportune time.

Skeptics of such a move, however, say the window of opportunity for Fadnavis has already closed. The loan-waiver scheme announced by the CM last month has failed to take off with the bureaucracy and the banking system throwing hurdles in the way of sanctioning fresh loans to the already indebted farmers. 

Will turncoats cross floor?

The presidential poll result has given CM Devendra Fadnavis camp a reason to cheer. The CM, with little help from BJP president Amit Shah, managed to ensure that all votes from coalition constituents in the state went to Kovind.

All that remained for Fadnavis to display his strength in the state was to get some additional votes from those outside the governing camp. This was accomplished and at least 22 more votes were added to the president-elect’s tally. It is, however, not yet clear to which outfits the turncoats belonged to. While the Congress and the NCP insist that none from their side had cross-voted, BJP leaders have been throwing around names of some prominent leaders from the two Opposition parties claiming that they extended support to the ruling front.

Sounding a warning to the Sena, a BJP leader claimed several Congress and NCP MLAs were willing to resign and contest on “lotus” symbol.

Farmers still discontent 

Just over a month after the state government promised a loan waiver, farmers are out on the streets again. According to farmers’ groups, only 3,200 out of 90 lakh eligible farmers were able to avail themselves of even the Rs 10,000 emergency relief announced by the government ahead of the sowing season. With banks turning away those hoping to buy seeds etc. using that money, suicides by farmers have gone up in the month after the loan-waiver announcement, these outfits claimed.

Farmers are now again out on the streets holding conventions across the state where they are mobilising support for a long-drawn agitation to force the government implement the Swaminathan Commission recommendations under which farm produce would have to be paid 50 per cent more than input costs.

According to reports from the hinterland, younger farmers armed with mobile phones and social networking apps are busy mobilising their colleagues for another strike instead of busying themselves with kharif crop.

Soaring tomato prices

With tomato prices hovering around Rs 100 a kg, Nashik farmers who planted the fruit and managed to harvest the crop are selling it directly to housewives in Mumbai.