The Maharashtra government has made u-turns on all promises made: Manikrao Thakare

After coming to power by making extravagant promises, the Fadnavis government has delivered very little development after completing a 100 days in office, said Congress leader Manikrao Thakare. In a chat with dna's Shailendra Paranjpe, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president said that the government had failed in key areas such as bringing down oil prices, and tackling Vidarbha farmers' difficulties. Thakare said that instead the government has claimed credit for projects launched by the previous government.

Q. What is your assessment of this government?
A. This government came to power by promising the impossible. It is a fact that is now evident, since the government has made u-turns on all the promises made. You can take the case of the price rise. Anyone can take stock of the international prices of crude oil, which have been continuously falling for the past four to five months. The government at the centre has not brought down prices commensurate with the fall at the international level. The fuel prices should have been down by almost fifty percent taking into account the fall in international prices.

Q. Don't you think that the government has tackled the farmers' issue by announcing a package of Rs7,000 crores during the winter session of the state assembly at Nagpur?
A. There is nothing great about that, since no farmer has received anything on the ground. Nor is there any waiver of farmers' loans. You may recall that BJP had promised a loan waiver during the elections and has not fulfilled this promise, while announcing a fruitless package. This government cheated the farmer community by talking about money lenders with government licences. That is a relief for money lenders instead of farmers.

Q. What do you think about the fact that the government has got clearance from the union environment ministry for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj memorial in the Arabian sea?
A. This government is passing off as its own the work done by us when we were in power. It is trumpeting the fact of getting the environment clearance for the memorial, but all the procedures including selection of the site were completed by us. It was the 2004 budget of a Congress-led government that first made provisions for the memorial. Now, Vinayak Mete, who is heading the committee for the memorial, has said that it may not be possible for prime minister Narendra Modi to attend the foundation-laying ceremony on February 19. Isn't this a betrayal of the people of Maharashtra?

Q. The Government claims to have provided Rs1,000 crore for making 5,000 villages drought-free in the coming year. What is your take on this decision?
A. This, too, was a scheme introduced by the Congress-led government. The government changed the name from Jalyukta Gaav Abhiyaan to Jalyukta Shivaar Abhiyaan. Now, can taking a scheme forward be called an achievement? The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) has published a booklet exposing the Modi government's u-turns on various promises, and the same would be done by us at Maharashtra Pradesh level. You will get more details soon.